Gov. Roy Cooper vetoes unmasking bill

On June 21, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed House Bill 237, Various Criminal Law and Election Changes — previously entitled Unmasking Mobs and Criminals. 

H.B. 237 originated as a bipartisan bill to criminalize money laundering in North Carolina and increase penalties for crimes committed while wearing face masks. Republicans in the State Senate then passed their own version of the bill.

If enacted, the final version of the bill would reinforce North Carolina’s ban on the wearing of masks and hoods, loosen the state’s campaign finance laws and change punishments for protests that impede the use of streets. Additionally, it would upgrade the class of a crime if one wears a mask while committing it. 

Despite the reinforced restrictions, this version would allow the wearing of masks to mitigate the spread of transmissible diseases. This is an altered form of a broader public health exemption established in 2020, and does not include those who must wear masks for other medical reasons.

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-61) said she is personally impacted by the bill, as somebody with respiratory complications who been advised by doctors to wear a mask on days with poor air quality.

"This is not covered, there’s no exemption in here for those who have to mask up to avoid allergens or bad air quality,” she said at the bill’s House reading on June 11.

The bill would also permit police officials and public and private landowners to request someone to remove their mask for the purpose of identification. 

Impact on campaign finances

If passed, the bill would loosen reporting requirements for federally registered political committees. Additionally, committees would no longer be required to have an N.C. resident involved with their finances.

These loosened regulations have sparked concerns for political contributions without disclosed donors — sometimes referred to as dark money — into the state’s elections, Ann Webb, policy director for nonpartisan advocacy organization Common Cause North Carolina said.

"This legislation creates a gaping loophole for secret, unlimited campaign money in the middle of an election year,” Cooper wrote in his official veto.

However, Rep. Grey Mills (R-95),said that the bill does not open North Carolina elections to dark money and that documentation will still be required.

"It simply does not," he said at the bill’s House reading on June 11. "The money contributed to North Carolina entities must come from segregated accounts, from individual donors, not corporate money. Public disclosure is required, and all the donations will be documented."

How did we get here?

N.C. criminal statute has banned the wearing of hoods or masks in public spaces since 1953, in part stemming from the state’s laws pertaining to secret societies and related activities. 

The statute originally included six exemptions to the ban, including one for the wearing of masks on holidays, such as Halloween and Mardi Gras, or for one’s profession. Later, the N.C. General Assembly passed an additional exemption in 2020 that allowed the wearing of masks in public for health reasons during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The original version of the bill passed the House in 2023 with bipartisan support, with 22 Democrats joining all 71 Republicans present in supporting the bill. The Senate version passed with only Republican support.

When asked to concur with the Senate’s changes, the House voted not to, sending the bill to a conference committee in which six Republicans were appointed to negotiate a compromise bill.

The version of H.B. 237 that emerged from conference committees contained the new campaign finance provisions, which had not been included in previous versions of the bill.

Webb said that, due to the nature of how conference committees function, there was minimal discussion on these changes. She said that both chambers debated the new text of the bill before passage, but no amendments could be presented.

“When you throw in new policy that has yet to be discussed in committee into a conference report, then you're kind of using that end of the road process to avoid public discussion of that policy,” she said.

What happens now?

House Speaker Tim Moore (R-111) said he would override Gov. Cooper’s veto in a post on X from June 21, stating that the campaign finance changes will level the playing field for the Democratic and Republican parties in North Carolina.

The bill will return to the N.C. House of Representatives for its first override vote. Republicans hold veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly if all members are present and voting.

If the bill gains the required three-fifths vote in both chambers, it will become law despite Cooper's veto.

@mckbul

@dthcitystate | city@dailytarheel.com

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