By Cash Michaels –
The Republican majority state House on Tuesday passed House Bill 237, the “Unmasking Mobs and Criminals Act,” 69 to 43, despite protests that it offered little protections for medical patients who are required to were medical masks to protect themselves from contracting contagious diseases.
The bill was also inexplicably mixed with a provision allowing so-called “dark money” from unnamed sources into political campaigns.
House Democrats debating the bill opined that one issue had nothing to do with the other, but that they were joined because of election-year politics.
Senate Republicans passed a compromise version of HB 237 earlier in June after House Republicans initially rejected a Senate version that removed the Covid pandemic public mask wearing exemption. Both houses conferred on the new version which passed June 11, 2024, despite there being new problems with the bill.
The new HB 237 mandates that only a medical or surgical grade mask may be worn for the purpose of “preventing the spread of contagious disease.” But what if a patient needs to wear a medical mask for the specific purpose of protecting themselves from catching a contagious disease, many House Democrats asked. The new language doesn’t say.
The new compromise also says a person wearing a medical mask “…shall remove the mask upon request by a law enforcement officer or temporarily remove the mask upon request by the owner or occupant of public or private property where the wearer is present to allow for identification of the wearer.”
So beyond a police officer, anyone can legally request a medical patient remove their medically necessary mask for the purpose of identification.
House Democrats warned that that provision will cause Constitutional issues going forward.
In terms of punishment, the new compromise HB237 states, “If a person is…
Read the full article here
