When rioters rampaged through the streets of Olympia on May Day, breaking windows and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage, they wore masks to hide their faces. Now a Washington state senator wants to make that illegal.
Sen. Jim Honeyford, a Republican from Sunnyside, has authored a bill that would outlaw the wearing of masks and other face coverings during protests,
“I think that’s a good idea,” said Kerri Murphy, manager of Blue, a Goodwill boutique in downtown Olympia that was targeted by mask -wearing marchers during the melee. She said the damage they caused cost her thousands of dollars and hurt the store’s outreach programs.
“Our mission is to help things in the region including things like unemployment, and it was a blow for everybody involved,” Murphy said.
Honeyford, a former police officer, said he’s been considering the bill as far back as the WTO riots of 1999.
“It does bother me that people hide behind a mask and they do that do that they’re unidentifiable and can create havoc,” said Honeyford.
Ten states and the District of Columbia already have similar laws in place. Nineteen more are considering legislation limiting face coverings in public. Most allow exceptions for religious beliefs, work requirements or health issues like respiratory diseases.
But the American Civil Liberties Union is opposed to Honeyford's bill on constitutional grounds.
“Wearing a mask in public is a form of symbolic speech that is protected by the First Amendment,” wrote ACLU legislative director Elizabeth Smith.
“The exemptions in the legislation, which include Halloween, theatrical productions, cold, and playing sports, show that the bill clearly is aimed at people engaged in protest. Criminalizing expressive conduct by protestors is unconstitutional.”
Honeyford said he’s been taking suggestions on tailoring the bill to consider other exemptions. With the legislature in special session, the bill won’t be up for committee hearings or a vote until the next regular session in 2018.
Cox Media Group