HB 1482

Law-enforcement officers; restrictions on wearing of facial coverings; required identification; exceptions; civil liability; penalty. Prohibits state and local law-enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings, defined in the bill, while engaged in the performance of their official duties. The bill sets out several exceptions to such prohibition, including protective facial coverings to protect against disease, infection, and exposure to toxic substances and facial coverings worn by any law-enforcement officer assigned to a special weapons and tactics team while engaged in the performance of his official duties with such team. The bill subjects the law-enforcement officer to disciplinary action, including dismissal, demotion, suspension, transfer, or decertification. The bill also requires law-enforcement officers to visibly display certain identification while engaged in the performance of their duties and creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any law-enforcement officer who wears a facial covering or fails to visibly display such identification in violation of the provisions of the bill. Finally, the bill creates a civil cause of action for any person injured as a result of tortious conduct by a law-enforcement officer who knowingly and intentionally wears a facial covering in violation of the provisions of the bill. The bill provides that sovereign immunity shall not be a defense to civil liability for such tortious conduct.