MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Lawmakers in a suburban New York county have authorised a invoice to ban masks in public locations with exemptions for individuals who cowl their faces for well being causes or spiritual or cultural functions.

Supporters stated the invoice authorised Monday by the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature on Lengthy Island would forestall violent protesters from hiding their identification.

Legislator Howard Kopel stated the measure was launched in response to “antisemitic incidents, typically perpetrated by these in masks” for the reason that Oct. 7 begin of the most recent Israel-Hamas battle.

All 12 Republicans within the legislature voted in favor of the measure, whereas the physique’s seven Democrats abstained.

The county lawmakers acted after New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, stated in June that she was contemplating a ban on face masks within the New York Metropolis subway system. No particular plan has been introduced to enact such a ban, which just like the Nassau measure was floated in response to the rise in mask-wearing protesters.

The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the Nassau masks ban as an infringement on free speech rights.

“Masks shield individuals who specific political beliefs which can be unpopular,” the group’s Nassau County regional director Susan Gottehrer stated in a press release. “Making nameless protest unlawful chills political motion and is ripe for selective enforcement, resulting in doxxing, surveillance, and retaliation in opposition to protesters.”

The Nassau invoice makes it a misdemeanor punishable by as much as a 12 months in jail and a $1,000 tremendous for anybody to put on a facial protecting to cover their identification in public.

The measure exempts individuals who put on masks for well being, security, “spiritual or cultural functions, or for the peaceable celebration of a vacation or comparable spiritual or cultural occasion for which masks or facial coverings are typically worn.”

In testimony to legislators on Monday, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder stated officers would know the distinction between somebody sporting a masks for legal causes and somebody sporting it for medical or spiritual functions.

“We’re not going to only arrest somebody for sporting a masks. We’re going to go as much as the particular person and discuss to them and discover out,” Ryder stated, in keeping with Newsday.

Nassau County Government Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, is anticipated to signal the invoice.

“Until somebody has a medical situation or a spiritual crucial, folks shouldn’t be allowed to cowl their face in a fashion that hides their identification when in public,” he stated in a press release after the legislature’s vote.

Dozens of public audio system for and in opposition to the invoice packed the legislative chambers.

Supporters stated the invoice would hold protesters who commit acts of harassment or violence from evading accountability. In distinction, opponents stated it might infringe on the well being privateness legal guidelines of individuals with disabilities and would doubtless not be enforced pretty throughout completely different communities.

Democratic Legislator Arnold Drucker stated earlier than the vote that the invoice “overstepped and may very well be detrimental to First Modification rights.”