General Assembly overrides 3 Cooper vetoes, including bill restricting public mask-wearing

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- North Carolina General Assembly voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes of three bills, including HB 237 and HB 834, which change the rules surrounding mask-wearing and the juvenile justice system, respectively.

Cooper, a Democrat, just vetoed HB 237 on Friday, the bill that targets wearing of masks to conceal one's identity - something many protesters have done recently, and he had vetoed the Juvenile Justice Bill on June 14 that would transfer 16- and 17-year-olds charged with the most serious felonies to adult court.

Both of those bills will now become law, along with a third bill that allows more trees to be cut down for billboards -- something environmental groups were especially upset about.

In the past year, Republicans have overridden more than 20 of Cooper's vetoes.

The recent override votes fell largely along party lines, as expected, with the Republican supermajority flexing its muscle on these three bills.

As for the masking bill, it is now officially law.

WHAT DOES THE LAW DO?

the law allows people to wear medical or surgical-grade masks in public to prevent the spread of illness. Law enforcement and property owners can ask people to temporarily remove those masks to verify their identity.

The measure also increases the severity of punishment for crimes committed while wearing a mask, and raises penalties for protesters who purposefully block traffic.

An unrelated provision on campaign finance was tacked on to the bill during negotiations. The law allows federally registered committees to donate money to state political parties by tapping pots of money that include unlimited contributions from individuals.

WHY DID REPUBLICANS PUSH THE LEGISLATION?

Multiple times during the bill's pathway through the legislature, GOP lawmakers said it was, in part, a response to widespread protests on college campuses against the war in Gaza.

"It's about time that the craziness is ... at least slowed down, if not put to a stop," one of the bill's supporters, Wilson County Republican Sen. Buck Newton, said last month.

More than 30 people were detained at an encampment set up at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to protest the war in Gaza. Many of the demonstrators wore masks.

Earlier this year, pro-Palestinian protesters blocked roads in Raleigh and Durham.

WHAT CONCERNS DO OPPONENTS HAVE ABOUT THE LAW?

Opposition to the measure initially centered on the removal of the health exemption, which Democratic lawmakers and other opponents said could harm immunocompromised people.

"You're making careful people into criminals with this bill," Mecklenburg County Democrat Sen. Natasha Marcus said in May.

Those concerns were largely ignored, however, until Rep. Erin Pare, Wake County's only Republican General Assembly member, announced on X that she wouldn't vote for the bill if a health exemption wasn't included. The legislation's passage skidded to a halt, prompting GOP legislators to add a health exemption.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups said the bill stifles protesters' free speech.

Now, most Democratic lawmakers are concerned about the election finance provision, which they said would lead to a lack of transparency in elections. Cooper cited the same provision as his main reason for vetoing the legislation.

"We don't need to make it easier for federal political action committees and secret donor groups to bring secret money into North Carolina politics," said Ann Webb, policy director of Common Cause NC.

WHAT DID NORTH CAROLINA MASKING LAWS REQUIRE PREVIOUSLY?

General statutes on masking date back to 1953, and were largely aimed at curbing Ku Klux Klan activity in North Carolina, according to David Cunningham, a Washington University at St. Louis sociology professor who wrote a book on the subject. The section of state laws that includes masking restrictions is titled "Prohibited Secret Societies and Activities."

In addition to the health exception, the law also exempts masks worn with holiday costumes, in theatrical productions or on jobs where they are used to keep workers safe.

JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM REFORM

As for the bill surrounding juvenile justice reform, supporters such as Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman said the new rules just help simplify the process.

"The backlog that was happening with having these essentially meaningless hearing in juvenile court that were taking up time away from cases that were actually going to be tried in juvenile court."

Nieman said he still supports children being tried as children in most cases. But for extreme cases, the new rules help move the justice system along. Ultimately, he said, the new rules still give prosecutors the final say in what happens.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.