Do Biden’s Mask Mandates have teeth?
More tough talk- more incidents
September 17, 2021
We’ve just heard more strong words about those who violate the mask mandates for air travel. “Doubling fines,” “zero tolerance,” and “strictly enforcing” rules are some of the phrases spoken with authority since the first part of the year.
I’ve taken to the skies a couple times since I wrote about the growing numbers of unruly passengers violating the requirement to wear a mask in airports and on jetliners. I haven’t seen any violations. Still, the number of incidents continues to rise and so do the threats from the government.
PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION
The latest is from President Joe Biden. When outlining his latest plan to battle the COVID pandemic a week and a half ago, the President said he ordered the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to take action. “The TSA will double the fines on travelers that refuse to mask. If you break the rules, be prepared to pay. And by the way, show some respect. The anger you see on television toward flight attendants and others doing their jobs is wrong. It’s ugly,” Biden says.
The President combined two different agencies and two different enforcement efforts in that statement. TSA is dealing with people in airports. The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible incidents in the air involving flight attendants and other crew members.
As of this writing, a lot of this is just tough talk from the President, the head of Homeland Security, and the FAA Administrator.
DOUBLING FINES
The TSA says it has 4,000 reports of face-mask related incidents since February. Warning notices have been sent to all 4,000. The TSA must decide in each case if a violator should be fined. In a statement the agency says that decision is made after, “evaluating evidence to determine whether penalties are warranted and providing individuals with the opportunity to present any mitigating factors to a TSA official or to request a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.”
Just 126 of the cases have been referred for civil penalties. All of those individuals will get their due process as the TSA suggests. That takes time.
The doubling of fines means a first offender will pay between $500 and $1,000 depending on the circumstances, or, as the TSA says, “a penalty based on a range of mitigating and aggravating factors.”
I asked the TSA last week how many of the 126 cases have actually been completed. How many fines have been paid? How much money has been collected? I haven't received a response. Because the civil penalty process is long, I would be not surprised if none of the cases have been finalized.
In the past month, the FAA says there have been another 271 mask-related unruly passenger reports. That is nine cases a day being reported. It appears that neither the FAA “Zero Tolerance” policy, nor this doubling of TSA fines, are having much of an effect on those refusing to wear masks.
The FAA recently highlighted that it has accessed more than $1 million in fines. Those cases are still pending.
FEDERAL CASES
The real hammer in this battle is the Department of Justice which can bring Federal charges against violators. But the number of cases filed this year, while greater than years past, does not match the dramatic rise in unruly passenger reports. It appears DOJ is busy with other matters or may have decided these cases are best left to the agencies and the civil fine process. The President did not call on DOJ to take a more aggressive stand against violators.
So, it remains the job of the TSA and FAA to try and turn the tide on the rising number of unruly-passenger cases. But the tool of civil fines and its due process timeline means most fines may not be assessed until the pandemic wanes.
If no one pays a fine until COVID is under control will the tough talk have made any difference?