Assembly Bill A3826

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Establishes the crimes of deceptive wearing of a mask and aggravated deceptive wearing of a mask

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.
Actions

co-Sponsors

multi-Sponsors

2025-A3826 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S723
Current Committee:
Assembly Codes
Law Section:
Penal Law
Laws Affected:
Add §§190.90 & 190.91, Pen L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:
A10043, S9194

2025-A3826 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes the crimes of deceptive wearing of a mask and aggravated deceptive wearing of a mask; makes such crimes a class B misdemeanor and a class A misdemeanor, respectively.

2025-A3826 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3826
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 30, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. REILLY -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crimes of
   deceptive wearing of a mask and aggravated deceptive wearing of a mask
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding two new sections  190.90
 and 190.91 to read as follows:
 § 190.90 DECEPTIVE WEARING OF A MASK.
   A  PERSON  IS  GUILTY OF DECEPTIVE WEARING OF A MASK WHEN, SUCH PERSON
 BEING MASKED OR IN ANY MANNER DISGUISED BY UNUSUAL OR  UNNATURAL  ATTIRE
 OR  FACIAL ALTERATION, LOITERS, REMAINS OR CONGREGATES IN A PUBLIC PLACE
 WITH OTHER PERSONS SO MASKED OR DISGUISED WHILE ENGAGED  IN  A  PROTEST,
 RALLY  OR OTHER PUBLIC ASSEMBLY, OR KNOWINGLY PERMITS OR AIDS PERSONS SO
 MASKED OR DISGUISED TO CONGREGATE IN A PUBLIC PLACE;  EXCEPT  THAT  SUCH
 CONDUCT  IS  NOT  UNLAWFUL  WHEN  IT IS WORN FOR RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE OR
 CUSTOMS OR WHEN IT OCCURS IN CONNECTION WITH A MASQUERADE PARTY OR  LIKE
 ENTERTAINMENT  IF,  WHEN  SUCH ENTERTAINMENT IS HELD IN A CITY WHICH HAS
 PROMULGATED REGULATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH AFFAIRS,  PERMISSION  IS
 FIRST OBTAINED FROM THE POLICE OR OTHER APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES.
   DECEPTIVE WEARING OF A MASK IS A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR.
 § 190.91 AGGRAVATED DECEPTIVE WEARING OF A MASK.
   A  PERSON  IS  GUILTY  OF AGGRAVATED DECEPTIVE WEARING OF A MASK WHEN,
 SUCH PERSON BEING MASKED OR IN ANY MANNER DISGUISED BY UNUSUAL OR  UNNA-
 TURAL  ATTIRE OR FACIAL ALTERATION, LOITERS, REMAINS OR CONGREGATES IN A
 PUBLIC PLACE WITH OTHER PERSONS SO MASKED OR DISGUISED WHILE ENGAGED  IN
 THE  CONDUCT OF DECEPTIVE WEARING OF A MASK AND CAUSE INJURY TO A PERSON
 OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY OR THEFT OF PROPERTY BELONGING TO ANOTHER  PERSON,
 OR  KNOWINGLY  PERMITS OR AIDS PERSONS SO MASKED OR DISGUISED TO CONGRE-
 GATE IN A PUBLIC PLACE; EXCEPT THAT SUCH CONDUCT IS NOT UNLAWFUL WHEN IT
 IS WORN FOR RELIGIOUS  OBSERVANCE  OR  CUSTOMS  OR  WHEN  IT  OCCURS  IN
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02637-01-5

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Paz_Zait_Givon
1 month ago

I have a health condition and Ive been masking when around others in public especially while indoors to protect my health and that of others since the start of the pandemic.

We know that masks reduce the spread of disease, and while medical masks are best any barrier reduces the speed and thus distance viral particles can spread, as well as the resulting viral load and thus virulence when it doesn’t altogether prevent spread.

Knowing this I am far more threatened by people NOT wearing any kind of face covering than any wearing face coverings.

My spouse has more sensory difficulties with masks but is willing to still wear a cloth mask to help mitigate.

Discouraging masking only makes us all less safe and public spaces less accessible.

You cannot police intent. If crimes happen punish the crimes, not the apparel. Throughout the pandemic we all learned how to recognize each other with masks on. AI recognizes people with masks on. Discouraging any kind of masks does NOTHING to protect public safety and much to harm it, especially as measles starts to spread and bird flu is on the brink of if not reaching human to human transmission.

This proposal would do nothing to help public safety but instead endanger it by endangering our public health.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.