Establishing a buffer zone between people entering a hospital or medical clinic, going to religious services or a school facility and groups of protesters gathered outside soon could be the law of the land in unincorporated LA County communities.
By a 5-0 vote, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Aug. 6, ordered the county counsel to write a draft ordinance establishing a “bubble zone” that “protects individuals” entering or leaving hospitals, medical clinics, schools or places of worship from unwanted interactions with protesters who are trying to share their opposing point of view or offer counseling.
The ordinance would make it a misdemeanor crime for anyone who obstructs or blocks another person from entering or exiting these places. It also would prevent anyone from getting within eight feet of someone handing out leaflets; displaying signs; orally protesting, educating or offering counseling — unless the person consents.
The eight-foot buffer zone would be put in effect within a radius of 100 feet from the entrance to these kinds of places.
“We have seen incidents outside of schools throughout the county,” said Third District Supervisor and board chair Lindsey Horvath on Aug. 2. Horvath authored the motion. “We have to make sure that when people are going to schools, or places of worship, for example, they can go in safely.”
She said her office has heard from the Jewish community, especially men and women going into a synagogue wearing traditional clothing who have felt unsafe. She said there’s also been an increase in Islamophobic incidents.
The StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice (SCLJ) filed a lawsuit against pro-Hamas groups and individuals from accessing religious services at Adas Torah Synagogue in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024, the group reported. It cited a federal law that prevents people from blocking access to places of worship.
Horvath said at a place of worship, every worshipper should be free from intimidation and harassment.
“Even here in Los Angeles County, we have seen how intimidation is used to prevent community members from entering facilities to receive essential services — bubble zones are how we meaningfully protect personal safety,” Horvath said in a prepared statement after Tuesday’s vote.
Protests have increased after the start of the Israel-Gaza war, which began when Hamas attacked and killed 1,200 Israeli citizens on Oct. 7, 2023, which was followed by relentless bombing of Gaza by Israel that has killed nearly 40,000 Gazans. The Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic incidents were up 140% in 2023 over the prior year.
Although the motion does not mention abortion, most buffer zone ordinances in the United States that determine where protesters can stand have been in relation to demonstrations from protest groups both for and against abortion rights. Anti-abortion demonstrations often occur at clinics that provide abortion and other reproductive care and they’ve intensified after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022 by reversing Roe v Wade.
“The exercise of a person’s right to protest must be balanced against another person’s right to access and obtain healthcare services, access education, and exercise their freedom to worship in a safe and unobstructed manner,” read the motion.
The proposed ordinance is based on a state of Colorado law passed in 1993 that has withstood several court challenges, said Horvath.
But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is seen as weakening bubble zone laws, said Ken Paulson, First Amendment lawyer and director of the Free Speech Center based at Middle Tennessee State University.
“The next buffer zone case to get to the U.S. Supreme Court will face extraordinary scrutiny as to whether it limits free speech,” Paulson said on Friday, Aug. 2. “There is a strong sense that the more conservative majority Supreme Court will be less tolerant of buffer zones than it has in the past.”
If the county ordinance is adopted, the board directed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to train its deputies in its enforcement. Also, informational forums will be conducted with the county’s 88 cities to encourage them to adopt similar ordinances.
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