Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed a controversial new bill into law Wednesday, one that bans face masks in public places except in cases of religious, health or cultural necessity.
The ban, the first of its kind in the United States, takes effect immediately, with the goal of increasing public safety. The bill was approved earlier this month by the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature on Long Island. Supporters say it will prevent violent protesters from hiding their identity.
Legislator Howard Kopel said the measure was introduced in response to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the latest Israel-Hamas war.
All 12 Republicans in the legislature voted in favor of the measure, while the body's seven Democrats abstained.
The county lawmakers acted after New York's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in June that she was considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system. No specific plan has been announced to enact such a ban, which like the Nassau measure was floated in response to the rise in mask-wearing protesters.
The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the Nassau mask ban as an infringement on free speech rights.
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“Masks protect people who express political opinions that are controversial,” the group's Nassau County regional director Susan Gottehrer said in a statement. “Officials should be supporting New Yorkers’ right to voice their views, not fueling widespread doxxing and threatening arrests."
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"Masks also protect people’s health, especially at a time of rising COVID rates, and make it possible for people with elevated risk to participate in public life," she continued. "We should be helping people make the right choice for themselves and their loved ones — not letting the government exile vulnerable people from society.”
The Nassau bill makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone to wear a facial covering to hide their identity in public.
The measure exempts people who wear masks for health, safety, “religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.”
Nassau County Democratic Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton called the law a waste of taxpayer money.
"This law is destined to be struck down in court, further tarnishing Blakeman's already losing record of lawsuits," DeRiggi-Whitton said in a statement Wednesday. "It's deeply disappointing that Blakeman and his Republican colleagues chose to ignore any opportunity for bipartisan compromise or even consider the Democratic bill—a bill that upholds the rule of law, offers a fairer approach for residents, and imposes firmer penalties on actual offenders."
