CHP exempted from California police unmasking bill
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol has been exempted from a proposal to make sure law enforcement agents do not conceal their identity.
The original bill prevented all law enforcement, such as federal immigration agents, from wearing masks or other types of face coverings.
But the amendment, first reported by Politico and KCRA, now applies the ban only to local and federal authorities, and officers from other states operating in California.
The CHP and other state-level agencies are now excluded, which has drawn criticism from at least two state police agencies.
State Sen. Scott Wiener’s amended SB 627 "deliberately excludes state law enforcement agencies for no articulable reason," the California State Sheriffs’ Association and the Peace Officers Research Association of California wrote in opposition letters over the weekend, Politico reports, "creating improper double standards solely for the political reason of avoiding a potential veto over impacts to administrative agencies."
Aside from Wiener (D-San Francisco), the bill was also introduced by state Sen. Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley), state Sen. Sasha Renee Pérez (D-LA), and state Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward.)