New York is expected to create a new criminal charge to levy against people who wear a mask while committing another crime.
The proposal is set to be included in a sweeping state budget bill that will be taken up by lawmakers in the coming days, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday.
The measure would make it a misdemeanor for a person to “use a mask to conceal their identity when committing a Class A misdemeanor or higher crime or fleeing the scene immediately after committing such a crime," her office said.
The move comes almost a year after the governor floated the idea banning masks in the New York City subway system because of what she described as concern about people hiding their faces while committing antisemitic acts.
The idea drew swift pushback from critics who argued a mask ban could stifle protests if people participating wanted to hide their identities to avoid professional or personal repercussions. Masks were required on New York City subways during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some transit riders have continued covering their faces in an effort to protect themselves against poor air quality underground.
Hochul, a Democrat, had admitted that a mask ban would be difficult to craft and noted that it would have to include exemptions for health, cultural or religious reasons. No legislation immediately emerged on the subject.
Months later, state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would have made it a crime for people to wear face masks to harass or threaten someone. Hochul appeared open to the senator's approach, but critics argued the proposal could lead to subjective enforcement and the proposal did not make it far in the legislative process.
The idea reemerged during recent negotiations over the state budget, carried new weight as the Trump administration has cracked down on international students and scholars who have criticized Israel or participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Hochul, at a press conference on Monday, said the term mask ban “was probably an overstatement” but still claimed victory on the issue.
“What people are looking for is to not have someone be able to get away with wearing a mask when they’re harming another person, or committing a crime or harassing, or threatening. We got to that, that’s exactly what this does,” she said.
In an interview, Skoufis said the current proposal responds to concerns about mask wearing while “reducing the subjectivity that could be involved with law enforcement."
The Trump administration's recent actions influenced negotiations on the policy, Skoufis said.
“Where we landed provides no — and I mean no — additional opportunity or tool or mechanism to ICE or federal law enforcement that does not already exist for them here in New York state,” he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Allie Bohm, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said Hochul's initial mask ban proposal was “deeply unpopular” and would have endangered protestors who are now concerned with being identified by the Trump administration.
“We have a federal government that has made clear that it is planning to target and is targeting people it disagrees with, and that very much includes protestors," Bohm said.
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