Oklahoma lawmakers consider mask ban, harsher penalties for rioters

OKLAHOMA CITY — Lawmakers advanced a bill out of committee that would implement harsher penalties for rioters, including longer prison terms and requirements that out-of-state residents be held without bail.

Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, said he’s “resurrecting” some of his legislative ideas from 2020 in House Bill 3581, including barring people from wearing masks to conceal their identities during riots without “lawful reason” and denying out-of-state rioters bail.

While he said it’s been several years since rioting happened in Oklahoma, he said it’s happening in other parts of the country as people have pushed back against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities and National Guard deployments.

The measure would also make aggravated assault and battery, vandalizing buildings, and obstructing a public street or highway felonies if they are committed during a riot. The bill passed from the House Criminal Judiciary Committee 5-1.

Lepak’s bill would make wearing a “mask, hood, covering, or disguise without lawful excuse” during a riot be guilty of a felony with the potential penalty of up to two years imprisonment, a fine of up to $2,500, or both. The penalties for the other criminal offenses would range from two to 10 years with fines reaching up to $5,000.

As federal immigration agents face criticisms for wearing masks while carrying out enforcement activities, Lepak said the bill would carve out exceptions for masking for law enforcement.

“We have people trying to enforce the law who are becoming personally threatened, their families threatened,” Lepak said. “… So I separate that to protect that employee of a county, of a city, of a state, of the federal government, from being harmed because he’s executing his authority and he gets identified or doxxed and suddenly his family is at risk.”

Lepak said his bill focuses on riots to “walk the line” with protecting peaceful demonstrations and Oklahomans’ First Amendment rights.

Rep. Erick Harris, R-Edmond, said he was concerned by the increases in penalties for the offenses in the bill and whether parts of it were unconstitutional, specifically withholding bond for out-of-state rioters. He voted in favor of it.

Lepak said he is aware of this concern and is willing to consider removing this from the measure, calling the bill a workin- progress.

Other lawmakers brought up that wearing a mask to conceal one’s identity while committing a crime is already illegal in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma law currently defines a riot as “any use of force or violence, or any threat to use force or violence if accompanied by immediate power of execution, by three or more persons acting together and without authority of law.”

Lepak’s bill would also allow for local political subdivisions, like municipalities or counties, to be liable to riot-related damages and losses if local law enforcement don’t take “reasonable action” to address or control the riot.

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