COLUMBUS, Ohio — The City of Columbus is drafting a lawsuit against Ohio for the new state law banning cities from regulating tobacco sales, claiming the lawmakers are infringing on home rule. This tobacco battle continues the bitter fight between the state and the cities.
Many cities, like Cleveland, have a problem.
"Cleveland has probably the highest smoking rate in the country at 35% compared to 11% for the rest of the country," said Cleveland Director of Public Health Dr. Dave Margolius.
A new state law going into effect in about 90 days will make it worse, he added.
Starting April 23, cities will no longer be able to regulate tobacco sales in city jurisdiction.
"It's not only that they are taking away our ability to stop the sale of flavored tobacco and vape products, but they're also taking away local jurisdictions' ability to do health inspections in tobacco retailers," the health director said.
The new law states that "The regulation of tobacco products and alternative nicotine products is a matter of general statewide concern that requires statewide regulation."
It continues to say that no municipality can create policies or laws that set or impose standards on retailers, among other provisions.
RELATED | Tobacco veto override continues fight between Ohio cities and state
Tobacco fight timeline
Dec. 12, 2022
Columbus City Council voted to stop the sale of flavored tobacco products
Dec. 14, 2022
Ohio Republican lawmakers added a provision to a bill on tobacco taxes to prevent any city or municipality from regulating smoking, vaping and other e-cigarette usage and sales. This was directly because of Columbus, according to State Rep. Jon Cross (R-Findlay).
Jan. 5, 2023
Gov. DeWine vetoed the bill.
"When a local community wants to make the decision to ban these flavors to protect their children, we should applaud those decisions," the governor said.
Feb. 6, 2023
Cleveland City Council introduced an ordinance to stop the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Cleveland station WEWS has covered the tobacco fight and its impact on Cleveland for years.
June 30, 2023
The final version of the FY '24-25 budget passed. GOP lawmakers, once again, snuck a provision into the budget bill to outlaw cities from regulating tobacco.
July 4, 2023
DeWine vetoed the tobacco regulation ban again.
Dec. 13, 2023
GOP House lawmakers voted to override the governor's veto.
All Democrats voted against it. There were a few Republicans who voted against it, including state Reps. Adam Holmes (Nashport), Gayle Manning (North Ridgeville), Jena Powell (Arcanum) and Andrea White (Kettering).
Jan. 1, 2024
Because the Senate hadn't also voted to override yet, Columbus' ban went into effect.
Jan. 24, 2024
GOP Senate lawmakers voted to override the governor's veto.
All Democrats voted against it. State Sen. Bill Blessing (Colerain Twp.) was the only Republican to vote against it.
This meant that the veto was invalid, so the bill became law. The law goes into effect after 90 days.
Present time
Statehouse Republicans, like Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), believe having patchwork laws across the state would be confusing.
"There needs to be some consistent statewide strategy," Huffman said.
People will stop supporting their local stores, hurting businesses, he added.
Back in February, WEWS reported that Cleveland tobacco businesses said they are ready to lawyer up if the city council passed their ban on flavors.
"It would be really devastating to have to let go people because we are cutting down half our sales because we aren’t making enough because we have five flavors or just unflavored," said Kari Pearson, Planet of the Vapes regional director of marketing.
The state is the one who can provide an answer to protecting kids, House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said, back when the House overrode the veto. For example, lawmakers have introduced bills to put harsher penalties on stores for selling products to minors.
However, Huffman understands that smoking is a problem for the state.
"There were some compromises being suggested by the folks who sell these products about a statewide ban and doing that pursuant to what the FDA also bans," Huffman said. "We're going to try to work with the industry and the governor over the next few weeks, and again, maybe try to get that compromise put in place," the president said.
That’s not good enough for Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein.
"We are going to file a lawsuit, among other things that we can do to push back, against this overreach," Klein said.
Municipal home rule allows cities and villages in Ohio to have the constitutional right to certain powers, including establishing laws in accordance with the self-government clause. If something doesn't interfere with laws in the Ohio Revised Code, cities have the right to make their own policies.
He also said the patchwork argument isn't valid.
"If the patchwork of law was a reasonable excuse for the legislature to pass laws and not allow cities to, then cities really would have nothing left to pass — because, by definition, every law would be a patchwork," he said.
Talking about patchwork and home rule...
News 5 has a series covering the home rule fight between cities and the state government. Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau's analysis showed lawmakers tend to pick and choose which local governments have the authority to pass ordinances. Typically, it's the state supporting rural areas and denying urban areas.
When abortion was banned in the rural town of Lebanon in 2021, the Legislature didn't do anything. The state also sided with counties that want to or have banned green energy projects.
Cleveland was the most recent victim of this, with a lawmaker proposing legislation solely to prevent one of their ballot proposals from being voted on.
Columbus is seemingly constantly getting under the skin of legislators. In just the past year, the lawmakers have found issues with the city for gun safety regulations, banning flavored tobacco and suggesting a voluntary curfew after a string of shootings.
Cincinnati has also had to deal with this.
RELATED: Cincinnati wants to require residents to lock up their guns and is suing the state to make it happen
Moving forward
Both Cleveland and Cincinnati said they are supportive of taking legal action.
“The state legislature showed its true colors in valuing profits for the tobacco industry over the health of our children," Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb said. "This issue is deeply personal to me as Cleveland’s Mayor where smoking is the leading cause of death in our city..."
Bibb continued, showing his backing for the central Ohio city.
"We support the City of Columbus’ actions. We are not giving up either," he said. "We previously proposed local legislation, lobbied the White House, and will continue to work with lawmakers and other stakeholders in this fight for our kids’ health. Their futures depend on it.”
Although Cincinnati didn't give a full statement, their spokesperson did call News 5 to say they are also behind Columbus.
The lawsuit will be filed in the coming weeks, prior to the ban taking effect, Klein said. He is hoping to get an injunction.
"Do you feel like your hands are tied in terms of helping keep Clevelanders alive?" Trau asked Margolius.
"Absolutely," He responded. "Don't take away that ability for us to take care of our residents."
