Following a federal judge’s ruling rejecting California’s mask ban on federal agents, State Senator Scott Wiener has introduced emergency legislation SB1004. This new bill aims to prohibit all law enforcement officers (including state, local, and federal levels) from wearing masks while on duty.
On April 14th, SB1004 was passed by a vote of 5 to 1 in the State Senate Public Safety Committee and has now entered the appropriations committee for further review.
Previously, on September 20th last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the “No Secret Police Act” (SB627), which restricts law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty. In November of the same year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against California seeking to block the law. On February 9th this year, Federal District Judge Christina Snyder issued a preliminary injunction against the mask ban, stating that SB627 violated the “intergovernmental immunity doctrine” by singling out federal officials.
However, Snyder also dismissed the federal government’s argument for protecting law enforcement officer safety, stating that officers concealing their identities had “no legitimate basis.” The following day, on February 10th, Wiener announced the introduction of SB1004, extending the mask ban to state-level law enforcement officers, with exceptions for undercover operations.
If SB1004 is approved and signed into law by the governor, all law enforcement agencies in California will be required to update their public policies on facial coverings by January 1, 2027.
It is currently uncertain whether Newsom will sign this bill into law, as it now directly affects state-level law enforcement agencies like the California Highway Patrol, for which the governor’s office had previously sought exemptions. At the same time, it remains unclear if the Trump administration will launch a new legal challenge against California’s new mask ban. The Department of Justice had previously argued that wearing masks protects law enforcement officers from harassment and doxxing.
California Democrats have recently been vocal in opposing federal immigration enforcement.
On April 15th, leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer published an immigration plan titled “How California Will Lock ICE Up” on Substack. “Democratic talk is not enough to oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or President Trump. California must establish a system that fights fire with fire,” Steyer wrote, accusing ICE of acting like a criminal organization engaged in racial discrimination.
Trump-backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton dismissed Steyer’s plan as “reckless.” “This is even more extreme than what we saw during the Biden administration—this is extending Biden’s open border policy domestically,” Hilton stated in a release on April 15th, “He (Steyer) is calling for attacks on federal law enforcement officers in the streets and throwing them in jail for carrying out their duties. This is incitement. It makes men and women in uniform targets and fuels the most extreme anti-government elements.”
Hilton further expressed that if elected governor in November, he would collaborate with the federal immigration enforcement department to ensure “the law is peacefully enforced.”