Ohio City Lawsuit Challenges State Tobacco Sales Restrictions as Unconstitutional

According to a report by halfwheel on April 10th, earlier this year, the Ohio State Legislature passed a bill that will restrict the sale of tobacco products, including flavored tobacco, within city limits, and prohibit municipalities from implementing tobacco regulations stricter than those set by the state.

Subsequently, 14 cities, including Columbus, Bexley, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dublin, Gahanna, Grandview Heights, Heath, Hilliard, Oxford, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington, and Worthington, filed lawsuits against the new law. They filed the lawsuits in Franklin County on Tuesday, April 9, alleging that the law violates the local government's autonomy. In particular, they argued that the constitution explicitly states that cities have the power to "exercise all local self-government powers and to enact and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary and other similar regulations, not in conflict with general laws." They contend that this ban would have a negative impact on citizens.

The incident began in December 2022 when the Columbus City Council proposed a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products. The flavor tobacco ban went into effect on January 1, prohibiting the sale of fruit-flavored, candy-flavored, vanilla-flavored, mint-flavored, or menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, cigarettes, small cigars, chewing tobacco, and any other flavored tobacco products. The Ohio state legislature, controlled by Republicans, quickly passed a priority law prohibiting municipalities from implementing tobacco regulations stricter than state law, which was then vetoed by Governor Mike DeWine. The ban was subsequently passed again by the state legislature, this time as part of a budget proposal, and once again vetoed by DeWine. In January of this year, the state Senate overturned Governor Mike DeWine's veto.

With the veto in place, the new state law will go into effect on April 24, meaning cities like Columbus will no longer be able to enforce their ban on flavored tobacco sales after that date.

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein stated in a press release, "Depriving cities of the right to make decisions in the interest of residents is not only unconstitutional, but also harmful policy that undermines public health, disrupts our progress in reducing tobacco use, and keeps these products out of the hands of youth."

At the same time, these cities argue that the law also threatens tobacco sales age restrictions that differ from those set by the state. In recent years, cities such as Columbus, Reynoldsburg, and others in central Ohio have passed ordinances to restrict tobacco sales to those aged 21 and older. According to data from the Ohio Department of Health, the smoking rate among adults in Franklin County decreased by 14% from 2016 to 2020, while tobacco use, especially e-cigarette use, has surged among teenagers statewide.

These cities have requested the state court to issue a temporary restraining order on the legislation to prevent the statewide ban from taking effect on April 23rd.