Short Stop in the Short Session

The North Carolina General Assembly has temporarily adjourned for the short session, with plans to reconvene a few more times throughout the remainder of the year. So far in 2024, a handful of bills have been enacted that affect criminal law and procedure. One of these bills includes laws that have already taken effect, summarized in this post. Listed at the end of this post are brief highlights of other noteworthy enactments. Wearing a mask in public. Under Article 4A of G.S. Chapter 14, it is generally a crime for an individual to wear a mask in public. G.S. 14-12.11(a) lists several exemptions from those provisions. Effective for offenses committed on or after June 27, 2024, S.L. 2024-16 (H 237) modifies G.S. 14-12.11(a)(6) to exempt any person wearing a medical or surgical grade mask for the purpose of preventing the spread of contagious disease. The previous version of this exemption accounted for the use of masks in light of Covid-19 pandemic, applying to “any person wearing a mask for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of the wearer or others.” However, the law now clarifies that the person would need to wear a "medical or surgical grade" mask for the sole purpose of “preventing the spread of a contagious disease.” Additionally, G.S. 14-12.11(c) was amended to require a person subject to the “medical or surgical grade mask” exemption to (i) remove the mask upon request by a law enforcement officer, or (ii) temporarily remove the mask upon request [...]