With nearly two months before the Georgia Legislature heads back to session, one lawmaker is already under fire for proposing a bill that critics call bigoted.
Activists told WSB-TV the bill targets Muslim women.
The bill’s author said on Wednesday that his focus is strictly on public safety, but the critics believe otherwise.
Georgia Muslim Voter Project's Aisha Yaqoob said she has been left unnerved by a the bill, prefiled with the Georgia House of Representatives this week, which she feels is rooted in bigotry
"I don't see the need for a law that specifically targets Muslim women." Yaqoob said. "It's frustrating. I was hoping not to have an issue like this come up so soon."
House Bill 3, written by state Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, wouldn't just prohibit Muslim women from wearing burqas or veils in state driver’s license photos -- a rule the Department of Driver Services already has -- but it would also ban them from covering their faces while driving and possibly while on any public property.
The bill's specific language says: "For the purposes of this subsection, the phrase 'upon any public way or property' includes but is not limited to operating a motor vehicle upon any public street, road, or highway."
"I can't see where it's coming from at all," Yaqoob said.
Spencer said his bill seeks to clarify the state's current anti-masking statute and no bigotry is intended.
"This bill is simply a response to constituents that do have concerns of the rise of Islamic terrorism, and we in the state of Georgia do not want our laws used against us," Spencer said.
Spencer said he also has other concerns.
"Number one, you're not a public safety risk by blocking and obstructing your vision while on the road, but also that you're identifiable to law enforcement," Spencer said.
"The bill is a bad solution to a nonexistent problem," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell with the Council on American Muslim Relations. "Very few Georgia Muslim women wear face veils, but those who do have a Constitutional right to do so."
Ironically, the state's anti-masking statute, which the new bill would amend, was first passed decades ago to target the Ku Klux Klan and its white hoods.
Either way, those activists said they'll peruse all legal means necessary to fight it.
Cox Media Group
