Bill > SB1150

This bill establishes a new criminal offense called "masked intimidation" in Missouri, which occurs when a person intentionally harasses, intimidates, or threatens another person while deliberately concealing their identity with a mask, hood, or other face-covering device, and with the intent to make the victim fear for their physical safety. The offense is classified as a class C misdemeanor for a first offense, escalating to a class B misdemeanor for subsequent offenses. The bill includes several specific exceptions where wearing a mask would not constitute this offense, such as wearing a mask for religious purposes, during holidays involving costumes, for occupational safety, protection from weather, artistic performances, emergency situations, health protection, or religious garb. The bill explicitly states that it does not intend to infringe on First Amendment rights and provides detailed definitions for terms like "harass", "intimidate", and "threaten". Additionally, the bill allows prosecutors to charge certain offenses as enhanced felonies if they believe the crime was motivated by characteristics like race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim.

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https://www.senate.mo.gov/26info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=113