On June 27, Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of House Bill 237,Various Criminal Law and Election Changes — previously entitled Unmasking Mobs and Criminals.
The bill will reinforce and provide amendments to North Carolina’s ban on the wearing of masks and hoods, which has been on the books since 1953.
While it originated in the N.C. House of Representatives as a bipartisan bill to criminalize money laundering and increase penalties for crimes committed while wearing face masks, Republicans in the N.C. Senate pushed for the removal of the state’s public health exemption that was established in 2020.
The enacted legislation is a compromise between the House and Senate, largely negotiated by a conference committee established after the House failed to concur with the Senate's bill.
“I think we got the bill at least to a softer spot, where people understand if they want to wear a mask they can wear a mask and not be fearful of the law,” Rep. John Torbett (R-108), one of the bill’s original sponsors who served on the conference committee, said at the bill’s veto override vote on June 26.
Key provisions in the law include changing the health exemption to the state mask ban — masks will now be permitted solely to prevent the spread of transmissible diseases — harsher penalties on crimes committed while wearing face masks, new penalties for protests that impede the use of streets and loosened campaign finance regulations for federally registered political committees.
The campaign finance portions of the bill were written while the bill was in conference committee,limiting the amount of time both chambers had to debate them.
Cooper vetoed the bill on June 21, citing concerns of unlimited and undisclosed campaign gifts from out of state donors, sending the bill back to the House.
On June 26, the House overrode Cooper’s veto. 70 Republicans supported the override over the unanimous disagreement of all 46 present Democrats. A further four members were absent or did not vote.
