Ohioans could soon see prices at the pump fall temporarily after state lawmakers passed a 90-day pause of the state’s gas tax on Wednesday.

The Ohio House and Senate passed House Bill 519 on Wednesday in a pair of bipartisan votes. The bill will suspend Ohio’s assessment of its 38.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gas and its 47-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel. The bill also pulls $725 million out of the state’s reserve accounts to cover the lost road and bridge maintenance funding that will occur as a result of the tax holiday.

The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for his signature. Normally, laws take effect 90 days after they are passed. But the gas-tax bill will take effect immediately if and when DeWine signs it, since it got enough Democratic support to add what’s called an emergency clause. 

Last week, DeWine voiced skepticism about an earlier version of how to fund the tax break. But now that it’s funded via general budget dollars and not those earmarked specifically for road repairs and construction, DeWine plans to sign the bill, his spokesman said on Wednesday afternoon. 

Ramaswamy revives stalled tax holiday idea

Republicans have debated suspending the state’s gas tax since earlier this year, after the U.S. attacks on Iran in February. This led to a disruption in global oil shipping and a spike in gas prices. But the measure failed to advance. Legislative leaders said Wednesday some Republicans thought at the time that perhaps prices had spiked temporarily. 

But the idea landed on the Republican-controlled legislature’s front burner last week after it became a top issue in the governor’s race. 

Nine days before Wednesday’s vote, both gubernatorial candidates – Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton – called for passage of a gas tax holiday within hours of one another. 

The same day, Midwest diesel prices reached an all-time high of $6.68 a gallon while regular gas prices reached their highest levels since May, according to federal data. Republicans’ polling numbers, meanwhile, have plunged as gas prices have started to go up.

Republican legislative leaders heeded the call, calling members back to Columbus on Wednesday for an unexpected vote. The resulting legislation was added to an unrelated bill that previously had to do with deterring auto theft. 

At times the legislative process grew contentious. Senate Republicans invoked a rarely used procedural maneuver to squash debate on the bill and block Democrats from proposing amendments on unrelated, politically charged subjects. And in the House, GOP Speaker Matt Huffman repeatedly cautioned Democrats that their floor speeches could be cut off if they deviated too far from the bill.

“We tried to offer amendments. Obviously, they won’t let us,” said Rep. Munira Abdullahi, a Columbus Democrat.

Republican Senate President Rob McColley, Ramaswamy’s running mate, described the restrictions as needed to keep debate on the topic.

“If we would have gotten bogged down with a lot of other stuff solely for political theater …, it would have, quite frankly, been a disservice to Ohioans,” McColley said.

The idea to suspend gas taxes was dusted off and then passed within nine days – a breakneck pace by typical legislative standards. Speaking with reporters following the vote, Ramaswamy called the episode a preview of how he’d govern the state.

“We’re going to be focused. We’re going to be substantive. And we’re going to be fast,” Ramaswamy said.

Tax holiday splits Democrats

Democrats took two major tacks on Wednesday when it came to the gas tax holiday legislation. Regardless of how they voted, most said in floor speeches and in interviews that they believed between 30% and 60% of the savings would not be passed on to customers and instead stay with the oil and gas industry or retailers. 

Those who voted for the bill credited Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton for helping come up with the idea, since Acton called for her own gas tax holiday hours before Ramaswamy did. After the bill passed Wednesday, the Acton campaign released a statement praising the vote’s outcome.

“As the first candidate in this race to propose a gas tax holiday, Dr. Acton is glad the Statehouse has voted with bipartisan support to establish a gas tax holiday and provide Ohioans much needed relief at the pump,” the statement said.

Some Democrats also quibbled with aspects of the bill, criticizing it for not dealing with broader issues like property taxes or data centers, or for pulling from state reserve funds instead using $600 million the state previously agreed to use to build a new Cleveland Browns football stadium.

Other Democrats more critical of the Republican proposal called the tax holiday a gimmick that would only save Ohioans a few dollars while politically benefitting Ramaswamy and other Republicans ahead of the election. They also said it ignores the real culprit of surging gas prices – the U.S. war on Iran. 

“This is a stunt,” said state Rep. Allison Russo, who’s also the Democratic candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. “It’s a stunt because you’re worried about what’s going to happen in 35 days.”

Rep. Terrence Upchurch, a Cleveland Democrat, said in an interview he’s confident he can explain what looks like a tough vote against the always-popular idea of a tax break. 

“This is temporary relief, there are no guardrails for consumers, and this is just irresponsible,” he said. 

Still, enough Democrats voted for the bill to hand Republicans a crucial victory – to attach the emergency clause that allows the law to take effect immediately, which could lead to a drop in gas prices before early voting starts on Oct. 6.

Some Democrats described their belief that Acton’s team wanted the bill to pass and urged Democratic caucus leaders to vote for it. 

“A lot of Democrats are a  frustrated ‘yes,’” said Abdullahi, who voted no. 

Dani Isaacsohn, the House Democratic Minority Leader, told reporters Wednesday that he spoke to Acton about the gas tax holiday proposal “at length.” He then laid out the sequence of events – Acton’s proposal followed by Ramaswamy’s legislative push hours later.

“She is centering the relief that people need, and she recognizes even before she’s in office that it’s time to start taking people’s needs seriously,” Isaacsohn said. 

This story originally appeared at signalohio.com.

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Ohio received an “F” for its sex education policy, according to a new report from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. 

This is the second year in a row Ohio has earned an “F” on the report card from SIECUS, a national organization that advocates for comprehensive, medically accurate, and inclusive sex education. 

“It’s deeply concerning that such an important part of our responsibility to prepare students for life is being so poorly managed,” said Abortion Forward Executive Director Kellie Copeland. 

“The goal should be to help students be prepared to make decisions about their bodies and their lives, and that’s just not what the Ohio curriculum does at all.”

The grades were determined using two categories — Sex Ed Requirement and Sex Ed Content Requirement. Ohio earned a “D” on the sex ed requirement and an “F” on the sex ed content requirement. 

Nine other states also received an “F” on SIECUS’s report card: Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. 

“What young people are allowed to learn about their bodies is increasingly being determined by politics—not by what they need to be healthy and safe,” Callie Simon, SIECUS Executive Director, said in a statement. 

“This goes beyond the classroom because what young people are allowed to learn today will shape their health, safety, and wellbeing for years to come.”

California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington each received an “A” on the SIECUS report card. 

A 2021 report from the Journal of Adolescent Health reviewed three decades of research and determined there is strong support for comprehensive sex education.  

“When you have a curriculum that is scientifically accurate, and teaches young people about the emotional, the physical, the social aspects of sexuality in an age-appropriate way, they understand their bodies better. They develop healthy relationships,” Copeland said. 

Ohio’s curriculum stresses abstinence as a general policy and requires some instruction about sexually transmitted infections, according to the Ohio Revised Code. 

Schools are required to “emphasize adoption as an option to unintended pregnancies” and “teach the potential physical, psychological, emotional, and social side effects” of sex outside of marriage, according to Ohio’s law. 

Ohio lawmakers decide curriculum requirements, so the State Board of Education can not require health education standards. Because Ohio lacks comprehensive sex education, it’s ultimately up to each school district on how they decide to teach it. 

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce is required to conduct an annual audit to ensure school districts are in compliance with the state’s law. 

Every school district completed the 2024-25 audit and all but two school districts were found to be overall compliant. 

Jefferson Township Local School District (Montgomery County) and Ridgewood Local School District (Coshocton County) were non-compliant. 

Both districts were also non-compliant during the 2024-23 audit as well. 

“Many family structures exist today, and all can provide children with a loving and supportive environment,” Ridgewood explained in ODEW’s audit. 

“We have school staff and students who come from single-parent households, same-sex couples, and traditional married-couple families alike. This highlights the importance of recognizing and respecting all family types. Furthermore, sex education should never be used to shame students for their family background.”

Jefferson Township’s district explained there was an “unexpected resignation of our Jr./Sr. High School principal on Feb. 21” who was making arrangements for the sexually transmitted infection education. 

“Our interim building principal was unable to restart/reconnect for the training,” Jefferson Township said in ODEW’s audit. 

“We also lost our Phys. Ed. teacher this year. We have hired a new staff member certified in Health and Phys. Ed. She will be responsible for scheduling the sexually transmitted infection education during the 2025-2026 school year.” 

The Ohio Center for Sex Education is the education arm of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio that teaches comprehensive sex education in schools and community organizations using the Get Real comprehensive sex education curriculum for middle and high schools. 

“That curricula focuses a lot on social and emotional learning, so we’re excited that not only do we get to talk about the stereotypical STIs, birth control, pregnancy prevention, but we also talk to folks about how to be members of their community and have proper communication skills and healthy relationships and just think about consent as a whole and and gender as a way that’s affirming,” said Jes Fuller, director of the Ohio Center for Sex Education.

Comprehensive sexual education is developmentally appropriate, she said.

“We want to give information to young people before it becomes incredibly useful because they can have that information for the future,” Fuller said.

Ohio has a higher teen birth rate than the national average. 

The national birth rate for females 15-19 years old was 12.6 per 1,000 females and Ohio’s teen birth rate was 14.0 per 1,000 females in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ohio lawmakers passed a bill over the summer that will soon require schools to teach students to graduate high school, get a job, and get married — in that order — before having a baby. This is known as the success sequence and the law takes effect Oct. 6.

Ohio House Bill 485, also known as the “Enact Baby Olivia Act” would require schools to show either the ‘Baby Olivia’ video or a similar video to students every year starting in fifth grade all the way up through twelfth grade beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

Ohio state Rep. Melanie Miller, R–Ashland, introduced the bill, which the Ohio House passed last year and has had two hearings in the Ohio Senate Education Committee. 

The Ohio lawmakers are currently on break and will come back after the November election. Any bill that does not pass before the two-year General Assembly ends in December would have to be reintroduced. 

This story originally appeared on ohiocapitaljournal.com

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Ohio officials can continue using a new proof of citizenship requirement for people who register to vote at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. In a divided ruling, The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court order on Wednesday.

It comes less than two weeks before Ohio’s voter registration deadline.

The case

Under 2025’s Ohio House Bill 54, BMV clerks offer clients the opportunity register to vote, but only after completing a driver’s license application which requires documentary proof of citizenship.

Two civic organizations, The Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans and Red Wine & Blue, challenged those provisions.

The National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the motor voter law, requires vehicle registration agencies to offer the opportunity to register when someone submits a driver’s license application. It also directs states to require the “only the minimum amount of information necessary.”

Voter registration forms — including those available at many other public agencies around Ohio — have no proof of citizenship requirement. Instead, applicants declare under penalty of perjury that they are eligible to vote.

Red Wine & Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans argued the BMV conditioning access to voter registration services on proof of citizenship violates the minimum information standard.

The groups presented two members who were initially barred from registering, both women, whose documents didn’t reflect their name change after marriage.

In one case, Margaret Dutcher showed up with a valid U.S. Passport — documentary proof of her citizenship — but was still unable to register because she did not have all the documents necessary to get a license.

Research from the University of Maryland indicates 21 million Americans don’t have readily available, up-to-date citizenship documents.

The district judge attempted to cut a middle path. He ordered state officials to stop requiring BMV visitors produce proof of citizenship to register. He added that his order applied to those whose license applications are “ultimately unsuccessful” over lack of documents, but not those who affirmatively indicate they are not a citizen.

The Circuit Court majority opinion

Circuit Judges John Nalbandian and Whitney Hermandorfer, both Trump appointees, downplayed Ohio’s policy and the alleged injury the plaintiffs suffered.

The BMV’s electronic system walks applicants through their license application and once it’s accepted, moves forward to a prompt asking the applicant if they’d like to use their information to register to vote. That’s a reasonable arrangement, the majority opinion concludes, because the universe of eligible license holders is includes minors and non-citizens — neither of whom can vote.

The majority also noted the BMV has paper forms available, and clerks are required to process applications. The state argued a more proactive effort to offer registration would require “wholesale retraining and restructuring of the BMV application process.” The majority bought that argument.

But the majority’s central problem with the case was the underlying harm.

The majority didn’t buy the idea that the individuals identified in the case had suffered an injury, and without injury, there’s no standing to sue.

“Neither Dutcher nor Fazio ever encountered anything having to do with the Associations’ H.B. 54 voter-registration challenge,” the majority wrote, “Instead, BMV officials rejected their driver’s-license applications based on independent paperwork defects.”

The majority contends the challengers aren’t so much finding fault with Ohio’s new law as its administration of drivers licenses, and so enjoining the law wouldn’t address their concerns.

The majority also determined the case is moot because the women in the case have since gotten their licenses and registered to vote.

The dissent

Circuit Judge Kevin Ritz, a Biden appointee, sees the case differently. He brushed aside the majority’s questions of standing and mootness. Two people who wanted to register weren’t afforded that opportunity when they applied for a license. “That is enough,” he said.

The plaintiffs later getting registered, doesn’t mean the case is moot, he added, because that injury could happen again to others.

“A contrary ruling as to rnootness would mean that potential voters who challenge an unlawful state law governing voter registration would have to forgo their registration and right to vote for as long as it took to litigate their challenge to the law,” he wrote. “I am reluctant to construct a Catch-22 that would require a litigant to renounce a ‘fundamental’ right in order to bring suit.”

Like the district court judge, Ritz focused on the importance of “submission.” Under the motor voter law, BMV clerks have to offer registration to people who “submit” a driver’s license application.

To Ritz and the district court, that happens when a person seeks a license, not when the BMV agrees to accept their application. So even people who don’t have all the documents necessary for a license should still be afforded an opportunity to register.

Ritz also said “there’s nothing in the record” to support the state’s argument that a more proactive approach to registration could create voter confusion.

“There is no proof, for instance,” he wrote, “that voters will be confused by a deputy registrar offering them a paper form that is already available elsewhere at the BMV.”

This story originally appeared on ohiocaptialjournal.com

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Ohio Republicans are unexpectedly coming back to Columbus next week to try to temporarily suspend Ohio’s gas tax amid an historic spike in fuel prices.

The move comes days before early voting begins, but GOP leaders will need Democrats’ help if they want to pass any gas relief before the November election.

Republican legislative leaders announced Wednesday that they are rallying behind a plan from Republican governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. His plan calls for pausing the tax for 90 days and tapping the state’s reserve funds to backfill the road and bridge maintenance budget that the taxes support.

House Speaker Matt Huffman and Senate President Rob McColley, Ramaswamy’s running mate, said a vote will be held next Wednesday. Without the support of at least a few Democrats, though, the tax cut couldn’t take effect until late December under rules that require larger vote margins for new laws to take effect immediately. 

“I think Democrats who vote against this are doing it at their peril,” Huffman said.  “This is a very easily understood issue.”

The GOP proposal presents Democrats with a political choice: Lend support to cut surging gas prices or do nothing and leave Republicans to answer for the policies behind the spike, which comes amid worsening polls for Republicans. 

House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn said Wednesday that he plans to poll his members about whether they are available to return to Columbus next week. He said Democrats would only support a gas relief measure that would divert the $600 million that Republican lawmakers already set aside for the Cleveland Browns new stadium.

Huffman laughed off that idea Wednesday when asked about it.

Isaacsohn said Republicans have yet to seek his party’s input. 

“This is a political ploy from someone who’s desperate, because Ohioans want a true change and real relief from their government as they worry about rising costs,” he said. 

If Republicans manage to pass a gas tax suspension, they have one more person to win over: Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who could sign or veto the legislation. DeWine successfully pushed for a gas tax hike in 2019, shortly after becoming governor. He has raised concerns recently that the state lacks enough road funding to meet its long-term needs, although Ramaswamy said his recent conversations with the governor have been positive.

“I think that all of us are open-minded to how we’re able to help Ohioans,” Ramaswamy said.

Huffman described his hopes that DeWine will sign the bill as soon as early October. Early voting begins on Oct. 6.

Surging gas prices darken outlook for Republicans

In March, not long after the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran, Republican lawmakers debated suspending the state’s gas tax, which is 38.5 cents per gallon for gas and 47 cents a gallon for diesel. The legislation failed to advance, and lawmakers went home in June, expecting not to return until after the election. 

But surging fuel prices this month in particular have spurred Republicans into action. 

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas cost $4.48 this week, the highest level since May. But a gallon of diesel – which fuels tractor-trailers and other heavy equipment involved with shipping goods and producing food – broke $6 this month in the Midwest. That surpassed the previous all-time record of $5.95 set in June 2022. Diesel prices have continued to climb since then.

How gas prices influence poll numbers 

Coinciding with the price spike, polling has shown Democrats gaining ground in races across the country in September. This could affect the race for Ohio governor and the state’s other competitive races for the U.S. Senate and the state legislature and tip the balance of power.

Republicans denied Wednesday that politics are a factor in their decision to try to lower gas prices in Ohio. The House version of the bill, however, is being carried by suburban Republicans Rep. Andrea White and Jim Thomas, who are among the GOP lawmakers at most risk of losing their seats.

Ramaswamy said rising diesel prices demand immediate action.

“Everybody’s heart was in the right place. Everybody’s mindset was in the right place. Our fiscal strength is in the right place. What I just needed to do was to actually catalyze action with urgency to match the moment with those diesel prices,” Ramaswamy said.

White, meanwhile, hinted at voter discontent with the Iran war, which conservatives have acknowledged is hurting Republicans’ elections chances in Ohio and elsewhere.

“The pain is real that we are feeling it stronger than ever because of the decisions in Washington,” said White, who represents a district in suburban Dayton that then-Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly won in 2024.

Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who is facing a strong challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, addressed the challenge facing Republicans more directly in comments published Tuesday by Politico.

“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” Husted said.

What exactly is Ramaswamy’s gas relief plan? 

The current state gas tax raises about $2.75 billion a year. Ramaswamy’s proposal would suspend Ohio’s gas tax for 90 days. The move would save drivers about $678 million. It also would drain the same amount from state funds that pay for road and bridge maintenance and for part of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s budget.

To make up for the lost revenue, Ramaswamy proposed draining reserve funds for the Ohio Department of Transportation or the state’s rainy day fund. He said the state could later replenish its savings accounts with money saved on future efforts fighting fraud in its Medicaid program. 

Democrat Amy Acton proposed gas-tax holiday hours before Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy announced his plan on Monday, shortly after his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Amy Acton, announced her own, less detailed proposal to suspend the state’s gas tax. 

Acton’s campaign accused Ramaswamy of copying her idea. Some Democrats referred to Ramaswamy’s proposal as Acton’s plan.

Do gas tax holidays actually work?

Gas tax holidays are a popular idea. But researchers have found tax cuts don’t automatically translate to direct savings for drivers.

A 2022 study from the University of Pennsylvania found that, while in a few other states gas tax holidays generally resulted in low prices at the pump, the savings didn’t completely line up with the duration of the break.

Gas tax holidays also have drawn criticism from business groups that worry the cuts come at the expense of maintaining roads and bridges. Ohio Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Stivers, a former Republican congressman, wrote an opinion column in July criticizing a federal proposal to suspend the gas tax, although the Ohio chamber hosted a news conference Wednesday where Republicans detailed their plans.

Rick Carfagna, a spokesperson for the chamber, said Ramaswamy’s plan to backfill lost revenue addresses his organization’s concerns.

Some Democrats have described President Trump’s previous call for a federal gas tax holiday as a gimmick, especially given the central role the Iran war has caused in causing prices to go up this year.

This article originally appeared on Signalohio.org.

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More than half of households surveyed that visited an Ohio food bank were forced to choose between paying for utilities or paying for food, according to a new report. 

That 57% statistic was even higher for households with children, which stands at 65%, according to the Ohio Association of Foodbanks annual report which surveyed 2,644 food pantry visitors from April 18 to May 22 this year.

“Ohioans are facing real, real challenges and difficult choices every day, and that those choices are putting them in situations that we know are untenable,” Ohio Association of Foodbanks Executive Director Joree Novotny said. 

Utilities were not the only trade-off. 63% reported choosing between paying for transportation or food, and 59% said they were forced to choose between clothes and personal hygiene products or food. Another 48% said they had to choose between affording medicine or food, and 45% had to decide between paying their rent or mortgage or paying for food.

Households with children saw additional trade-offs as well, with 30% choosing between paying for education or food and 23% choosing between affording childcare or affording food. 

“There’s a lot of trade-offs that are being considered and often being made,” Novotny said. 

“We have to remember that someone making a choice sacrificing medicine to afford food, or wrestling with being able to put gas in the car to get to work, or put food on a table for their kids, or, even many making choices to regularly skip meals to stretch the resources that they do have, that reinforces concerns about what that means for the health and well-being of individual families and collective communities longer term.” 

Slightly more than half (52%) said at least one person in their household skipped a meal during the past year and 59% said they had to skip a meal every month, according to the report. 

When it comes to households with seniors, 53% reported visiting food pantries more than 12 times per year.

Food is often the first thing people cut back on, Novotny said. 

“You still have to put gas in the car to get to work to keep your job,” she said. “You still have to pay the rent, keep utilities running, but food is a thing you can sacrifice.”

Who was surveyed 

Of those surveyed, 46% said there was at least one senior over the age of 60 and 46% said there was at least one child under the age of 18. 

Slightly more than half of those surveyed had annual household incomes below $20,000 and 69% reported having an income below $30,000. 

Nearly a third of those surveyed said they got an extra job to make ends meet. 

About half (49%) had Medicaid coverage and 76% had someone in their household living with a health condition including high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease. 

A little less than half (45%) received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Of those households receiving SNAP, 24% said their benefits lasted one week or less.  

More than 100,000 Ohioans — including more than 50,000 children — have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made the largest cuts to food stamps in the history of the program. 

This story originally appeared at ohiocapitaljournal.com.

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From the moment he claimed victory in the Ohio Republican gubernatorial primary, Vivek Ramaswamy has built a campaign in part around a critique of his opponent’s leadership of the state’s COVID-19 response. 

The case has mostly focused on Ohio’s decisions early in the pandemic – led by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, a physician who’s now running for governor as a Democrat – to close schools and businesses in the spring of 2020. 

Ramaswamy and the state Republican party have sought to ferry some of the lingering frustration and cynicism around COVID-19 into a race against an opponent they refer to as “Dr. Lockdown” or “Ohio’s Fauci,” a reference to longtime federal infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who advised President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden during the pandemic and is now a frequent punching bag and apparent criminal investigation subject of Republicans. 

The state GOP has been more unsparing, accusing Acton of “recklessness dressed up in authority” and “a record marked by unconstitutional overreach, preventable suffering, and lasting damage” to Ohio families. 

“Those kids in public schools will never get those two years of their education back. That’s unforgivable,” Ramaswamy said in a victory speech in May after a blowout primary victory. 

“Businesses were shuttered, and we actually chased business and entrepreneurs to states like Florida or Texas.”

But a review of state health orders shows Ohio’s pandemic response wasn’t all that different from that of pandemic “freedom” states like Texas and Florida through the entirety of Acton’s leadership of the health department during the pandemic. 

For instance, Ohio closed its K-12 schools in the Spring of 2020 on the same day as Florida. Also, while Texas and Florida were quicker to re-open restaurants, Ohio was quicker to re-open its first bars. 

Acton led the Ohio Department of Health for the first 94 days of the pandemic before she resigned June 11, 2020. In that time, Ohio acted more or less with comparable timing with dozens of states, Democrat and Republican, largely adhering to CDC guidance under the Trump administration in responding to what was then an emerging and novel health crisis. Ultimately, millions of Ohioans were infected during the pandemic, and more than 42,000 died.

“All the states were doing this,” said Sharona Hoffman, a co-director at the law and medicine center at Case Western Reserve University’s law school. “We were not anomalous in any way. Texas and Florida were doing the same thing. … It had nothing to do with Amy Acton.”

Republicans have criticized Acton for taking comparatively common steps to respond to the pandemic, and glossing over their Republican backing. For instance, some have castigated Acton for issuing a late-breaking order delaying the March 2020 primary election. But Ohio was one of at least 16 states to delay its primaries. And the order only came after a lawsuit on behalf of immunocompromised voters seeking to do the same, organized by statewide Republicans including DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, failed.  

Like other Republicans, Ramaswamy has distanced himself from things like his personal decision to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or his self-identification as an “adviser” to the state’s pandemic response. As recently as Saturday, he referred to Acton as a “bureaucrat who shut down our economy [and] who will do it again” if given the chance. 

The criticism comes despite insistence from DeWine, also a Republican, that the life-or-death policy choices of the day were his. 

While most health orders were signed by Acton – state law vests power in the health department director – Acton and DeWine rolled them out jointly at the daily pandemic-era press conferences that vaulted Acton to prominence. 

“The decisions that were made during COVID, they were my decisions, so no one should blame someone else if they don’t like it,” DeWine said recently. “The buck stops with me.”

Ramaswamy’s campaign declined to make the candidate available for an interview or answer questions on the subject of COVID-19. 

Acton’s campaign also declined an interview, emphasizing that DeWine has taken ownership of pandemic-era decisions and that Ohio acted in similar fashion as most states. 

“Dr. Acton is proud of the work she did alongside Governor Mike DeWine to put public health over politics, save lives, and keep Ohioans safe,” said Addie Bullock, an Acton spokeswoman. “Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy made more than $2 billion from the COVID-19 vaccine, wanted to ‘segregate’ Ohioans based on their immunity status, and spent over $70,000 lobbying the federal government and White House on COVID drug approvals.”

Ohio, Florida and (most) California schools closed on the same day

On March 12, 2020, DeWine announced that Ohio would be the first state in the nation to close all public schools, effective March 16. 

The decision proved to be a watershed moment. Within 24 hours, dozens of states followed. These included ruby red political grounds of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Utah and West Virginia. 

While Ramaswamy’s campaign regularly and correctly points out that Ohio was the first to “announce” a statewide closure, most states closed schools around the same time. 

Ohio and Florida both closed March 16, 2020, a Monday. California didn’t issue any statewide school closure at the time, but by that same day, districts enrolling 90% of California students had closed on their own accord. Texas schools were ordered to close that Friday. 

When lawmakers convened for the first time during the pandemic later that month, the Ohio General Assembly didn’t at all reverse Acton’s decision. Instead, lawmakers voted to relieve schools of certain testing and reporting requirements given the shutdowns.

The bill passed unanimously, including with a vote from Sen. Rob McColley, a northwest Ohio Republican who is now Ramaswamy’s running mate. 

States varied widely on contentious decisions around handling the 2020-2021 school year. In general terms, Republican states pushed more aggressively for open classrooms, while Democrats sought remote learning options. But these debates occurred well after Acton left and under a new state health director. 

Ohio’s bar shutdown? Shorter than sunny Texas’

Ohio closed its bars and restaurants March 15, 2020, in one of the most visceral intrusions into adults’ lives during the pandemic at the time. 

California, Florida and Texas’ bars and restaurants were all shuttered by March 20. 

In the bitter decisions over re-opening the economy, Ohio sat reliably mid-pack throughout. Restaurants re-opened outdoors on May 15, 2020, with some bars almost immediately drawing dense crowds that stirred unease in state officials. Indoor dining resumed six days later. That’s 61 and 67 days, respectively. 

Florida – its tourist towns in the midst of spring break – reopened its restaurants on May 1, 2020, and its bars June 5. That means its restaurants closed for 42 days and its bars for 81. 

Texas reopened restaurants on May 4, 2020, at between 25% and 50% capacity, and opened bars on May 22 that year. So Texas restaurants were closed for 42 days and bars for 64. 

The timeline is messier than partisan politics suggest. Florida and Texas were more aggressive opening restaurants than Ohio was, while more cautious with their bars. 

Ohio declined a mask mandate under Acton

Conservatives have repeatedly sought to connect Acton with pandemic-era, robin’s egg-blue cloth masks – a visceral symbol of one of the most unpopular elements of the pandemic among conservatives. 

But Ohio under Acton spurned a torrent of roughly two dozen progressive states that began imposing statewide mask mandates in April 2020. 

On April 27, 2020, DeWine announced that Ohio would join a wave of more than a dozen states and impose a statewide mask mandate at open businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

But it never took effect, at least in the short run. The very next day, DeWine reversed himself, saying too many Ohioans found the notion of being forced to wear a mask “offensive.”

It wasn’t until July 2020, weeks after Acton resigned, that Ohio first required masks indoors, becoming roughly the 30th U.S. state to do so. 

What about closing churches?

A perennial myth of pandemic lore is that Ohio ordered the closure of churches during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Ohio Republican Party on Tuesday posted on social media an image of a man holding a sign – created by conservative organization Turning Point USA – that says “Don’t Let Dems Shut Down Our Churches.” He’s standing next to a cardboard cutout of Acton, wearing a blue cloth mask. 

Rep. Adam Mathews, a Cincinnati Republican and attorney who serves in the General Assembly, in late July penned an op-ed with the headline “Amy Acton closed churches, kept abortions going. I am Catholic. That’s what matters.” (The headline was later corrected.)

However, Ohio never shut down churches during the pandemic. And Ohio’s Republican attorney general used the health department’s shutdown of “nonessential” medical procedures to include abortion clinics, an interpretation later overturned by federal courts. In other words, Acton’s health order was used as the legal basis to shutter abortion clinics until judges intervened. Mathews didn’t return a phone call.

DeWine, a religious conservative, asked that churches either refrain from convening in person or at least adopt social distancing measures, but he said it wouldn’t be enforced so as not to interfere with people’s constitutional rights to free exercise of religion. Acton’s health order was explicit on this point. 

“This Order does not apply to and/or excludes religious gatherings, gatherings for the purpose of the expression of First Amendment protected speech,” it states.

Dan Tierney, a DeWine spokesman, said in an interview Tuesday he recalled the administration taking a lot of heat on the issue, but, he said, it’s simply incorrect to suggest any official action closed a church in Ohio. 

He said some people perhaps mistook churches’ voluntary decision to close as the result of a health order. But on the other hand, the era was a hotbed of bad actors speaking untruths. 

“During covid, there was a lot of misinformation on a lot of things from all ends of the political spectrum,” he said. “This is not the first time we had to answer that [church closure] question. We had to answer it back then too.”

California, for its part, took a more aggressive stance and closed churches. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the order, deeming it a violation of the First Amendment.  

A misleading nursing home ad

COVID-19 spread most efficiently in communal settings and hit older and infirmed populations the hardest. This combination left nursing homes uniquely vulnerable. 

Every state struggled with the same problems – not enough testing to detect the virus or personal protective equipment to slow its spread. States tried increasing pay for the care workforce, surging protective equipment into the facilities, and restricting visitors. 

Ohio, along with at least 30 other states, including Texas and Florida, banned nursing home visits in an effort to slow the spread of the virus, although research suggests the policy was ineffective. Other studies have found that no state emerged as a role model in their handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, where 39% of all COVID-19 deaths occurred.

A recent ad from the Ramaswamy campaign invokes Acton’s decisions on the subject. In the ad, a Republican activist named Linda Caudill says her mother was in a nursing home when “Amy Acton shut down the state.” She said her mother was old and couldn’t comprehend why her family couldn’t visit. 

“Amy Acton is to blame for this,” the ad states.

The ad criticizes Acton for the virus mitigation measures, while showing headlines about COVID-19-related deaths in Ohio nursing homes. 

What’s more, some of the claims of Caudill – who is arguably best known for a Columbus Dispatch photograph that captured her angrily screaming outside the Ohio Statehouse in April 2020 while DeWine and Acton gave a press conference – don’t seem to hold up either. A Columbus Dispatch fact check found that Caudill’s mother lived in Kentucky and died after Ohio lifted its stay-at-home order. 

Ohio Democrats called the ad a “scam,” and Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer accused Ramaswamy of resorting to “baseless and easily disproven lies because he’s desperate to salvage any thread of his failing campaign.”

Signal Statewide reached out to Caudill for comment. 

Andrew Tobias contributed reporting. 

This story originally appeared at signalohio.com.

The post How did Amy Acton handle Ohio’s early days of COVID? Just like Texas appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Ohio Republicans held a call to action over the weekend – urging voters to show their support for President Donald Trump by approving Issue 3.

At an event in suburban Columbus, Republicans compared Issue 3, the only statewide question on Ohio’s ballot this November, to the SAVE America Act, a federal bill that would require all Americans to prove their citizenship in order to register to vote. The federal bill, which also has a voter ID component, is Trump’s top legislative priority and is being blocked by Democrats in the U.S. Senate. 

“They can’t pass the Save America Act. OK, fine,” Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou said at a pro-Issue 3 Saturday event that also featured Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Jon Husted. “But you know what we can do in Ohio? We can pass Issue 3.”

The event highlighted the wide GOP backing for the proposed amendment. Issue 3 also has support from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, though she does not tie her stance to President Trump or the SAVE Act. Other Democrats, including those running for statewide office this fall, do not back Issue 3. 

While arguments over Issue 3 might get heated – and used for political gain as GOP leaders did recently – Signal Statewide is offering a nonpartisan explainer about the issue and what voters need to know about it, including an explanation of the current voting law. 

What is Issue 3? 

Issue 3 is an amendment to Ohio’s state constitution, the legal document that sets up the government and is the supreme law that trumps state and local rules that conflict with it.

What would Issue 3 do?  

Mainly, it would enshrine in the constitution a requirement that Ohio voters have to show a photo ID to vote in person. Issue 3 only involves voter ID and touches on no other issues, such as proof of citizenship. 

Doesn’t Ohio already require voters to show an ID when voting?

Yes. Ohio has required a photo ID to vote in person since 2023, under a law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. As such, Issue 3 wouldn’t have any immediate effect if voters approve it.

Approving Issue 3, however, would make it harder to undo the voter-ID requirements in the future because changing the constitution requires voter approval, unlike changing a regular law. 

What forms of ID are acceptable in current law and under the proposed amendment? 

Like current law, Issue 3 lists seven documents as acceptable IDs for voting: an unexpired Ohio driver’s license or state ID card, a U.S. passport or passport card, a U.S. military ID card, an Ohio National Guard ID card or a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.

Among the notable examples of IDs that still won’t be accepted: out-of-state driver’s licenses and student IDs. 

Like current law, Issue 3 also preserves an existing exemption for people with a sincere religious objection to being photographed. 

Does Issue 3 require ID for mail voting?

No – even though the state’s official ballot language for Issue 3 references ID requirements for mail voting. 

Voters might find this section confusing, because it seems to say Issue 3 would require that “voters who do not vote in person provide an approved form of government-issued photo identification.” 

But it goes on to say that voters casting ballots by mail could provide their signature instead, as well as “one other specified unique indicator if authorized by law.” 

This references how current Ohio law allows voters to provide an alternate ID – including the last four digits of their Social Security number – on the state’s official absentee ballot request form.

In other words, Issue 3 basically states that the legislature can decide whether or not to require a photo ID for voting by mail. 

Didn’t lawmakers already pass ID requirements for voting by mail?

The Republican-led state legislators passed a law last June that would have required photo ID for mail voting. But the law was blocked from taking effect after Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed it. So it is not the law at this time. 

How did Issue 3 get put before voters? 

Republican state lawmakers voted in June to put the amendment on the ballot in a coordinated public effort that began the previous month with an op-ed by Ramaswamy, the Republican governor candidate.

Citizen groups also can put amendments up for a vote through a process that involves collecting hundreds of thousands of voter signatures, but that’s not what happened here.

So if Issue 3 won’t have any immediate effect, why did Republicans put it on the ballot?

Republicans, who have supported tougher photo ID requirements for years, argue that putting Ohio’s voter ID language in the state constitution will protect it from being repealed by future legislatures. 

They point to examples like Virginia, where Democrats repealed a photo ID law in 2020 after taking control of the state government a few years before. 

Why do Issue 3 supporters say it’s necessary?

They argue that putting a photo ID law in the state constitution will give it extra protection in the event it’s challenged in court. 

In general, Republicans call voter ID requirements a commonsense way to secure elections with widespread support among the general public.

Ohio Republicans aren’t alone on this one.  GOP-controlled state legislatures in Arizona, North Carolina and Oklahoma also have put voter ID measures on the ballot this year, according to Ballotpedia. Citizen groups put them on the ballot in California, Colorado and Nevada.

Will Issue 3 drive voter turnout? 

Republicans, guided  by President Trump’s calls for stricter voting laws, could use it to mobilize their voters.

In an interview with Signal Statewide following last Saturday’s event formally launching the “Yes on 3” campaign, Triantafilou, the state Republican Party chairman, acknowledged as much. 

“There’s no hiding it. We think this is an issue that animates conservatives,” he said. “But really, it animates everybody. This is a 75% issue.” 

Democrats argue that firing up their lagging base is the main reason Republicans put Issue 3 on the ballot. 

Why do they think that?

Polling and Republican operatives have warned a significant portion of the party’s voters are demoralized as concerns remain about the rising cost of living. 

There’s also an historic trend in American politics in which the party that controls the White House loses ground in the midterm elections, in part because their supporters can become complacent about lower-profile state races after their party wins the presidency. 

What are the arguments against Issue 3?

There are a few main sets of arguments. 

Many Democrats, progressives and voting-rights advocates oppose strict voter ID laws. They say such laws can disenfranchise eligible voters. Certain groups of voters are more likely to not have valid ID, including members of racial minorities, students and elderly people. 

Democratic lawmakers opposed Ohio’s voter ID law when Republicans passed it in 2023, saying the old system was secure and worked well. That system allowed voters to provide their Social Security number or a copy of a recent utility bill with their current address to prove their identity. 

Democrats also have opposed new election restrictions in general, saying documented voter fraud is extremely rare.

There’s also an argument more specifically tailored against Issue 3. Critics say it needlessly locks Ohio’s current list of valid IDs into the constitution. One part of the state’s official arguments against Issue 3, written by Democratic lawmakers, says this leaves other forms of identity unusable, such as county-issued veteran IDs and digital IDs.

“Today in Ohio you can use your digital wallet to fly but not to vote. This amendment locks out future technology that will be both more secure and more available,” reads one of the official “no” arguments. 

Finally, some on the political right opposed Issue 3 while it was being debated in the legislature because they argued it didn’t go far enough by not requiring ID for mail voting.

Who is backing Issue 3? 

The Ohio Republican Party is effectively running the “yes” campaign for Issue 3. The state party has printed up “Yes on 3” fliers, and state party officials plan to promote the measure at all upcoming campaign stops. They’re not saying whether Republicans have set aside money for a bigger PR campaign, including TV commercials.

More broadly, Issue 3 has top-to-bottom support among the rest of the Republican Party, including the entire statewide candidate slate – including Robert Sprague, the candidate for Ohio Secretary of State – and President Trump. 

While no Democratic legislators voted with Republicans to put Issue 3 on the ballot, it does have one high-profile Democratic supporter: Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor.

Who opposes Issue 3?

There is not yet a group or coalition leading the official opposition to Issue 3.  But the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the group representing Black state legislators, and Ohio Citizen Action, a left-leaning government watchdog group, have announced their opposition to Issue 3. Allison Russo, the Democratic candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, and Tom Pruss, the Libertarian candidate for Secretary of State, also oppose it. 

A trio of Democratic state lawmakers authored the official “no” arguments – state Sen. Bill DeMora of Columbus and state Reps. Terrence Upchurch of Cleveland and Desiree Tims of Dayton.

But none of the three had heard of an official “no” campaign when they were asked by Signal Statewide.

“Much to my chagrin, since our governor candidate came out for Issue 3, I don’t see any organized opposition from the Democratic Party to oppose it,” DeMora said.

Tims also described a low-profile campaign. She said Democrats currently are saving their resources for other priorities, although she said a more robust “no” campaign might emerge.

“The ‘vote no’ campaign is pretty much going to be us talking to voters, telling them to vote no on something that’s already the law,” Tims said. “I think that it’s sad that Republicans are spending money on something that’s not an issue when they could be working on solving the high cost of electric bills.”

Ohio Democratic Party officials call voter ID settled law in Ohio. Party spokesperson Marisa Nahem said even Republicans like DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose have said Ohio’s elections are secure.

“While Statehouse Republicans spend their time pushing an unnecessary ballot initiative that doesn’t change the current law, the Ohio Democratic Party will continue our work to ensure that every eligible Ohio voter is able to cast their ballot free from unnecessary barriers,” Nahem said.

This story originally appeared at signalohio.com.

The post What is Issue 3? Ohio’s voter ID amendment, explained appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Federal courts have blocked a voter registration provision slipped into Ohio’s latest two-year transportation budget. The change requires Ohioans registering to vote at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to present proof of citizenship in order to register.

The organizations Red, Wine and Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans challenged the policy in federal court. Secretary of State Frank LaRose has promised to appeal and has asked the judge to stay the ruling, which would allow the changes to remain in effect as the case goes forward.

The arguments hinge on the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 — commonly known as the Motor Voter Act because it required vehicle registration offices to help people register to vote.

That law requires a person to attest under penalty of perjury that they’re a citizen, and it also bars states from requiring anything more than the “minimum information necessary” to get a person registered.

“Ohio is not free to impose an additional requirement for voter registration when that requirement conflicts with federal law,” the challengers’ complaint reads. “Congress made the judgment that an attestation was sufficient to demonstrate citizenship, and that nothing beyond that minimum requirement was allowed.”

How important is the change?

To the challengers, Ohio’s new law represents an important albeit subtle change. Everyone who registers to vote must be a citizen. But the groups contend requiring documentary proof, rather than just a sworn statement, will harm their members who don’t have documents readily available.

Seniors who have lost their birth certificates, those whose names have changed through marriage or divorce, or those whose passports have lapsed could all have trouble registering to vote. Similarly, younger Ohioans who are still in school may have left documents with their parents for safekeeping. The challengers add that collecting the necessary documents is both costly and time consuming — with processing times running from a few weeks to a few months.

Research from the University of Maryland indicates 21 million Americans don’t have the documents they need to register readily available.

But to Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Ohio Motor Vehicles Registrar Charles Norman, the new requirements aren’t really a change at all.

“Because Ohioans necessarily present proof of citizenship (or non-citizenship) through their applications for Ohio credentials,” they said in court filings, “registrars and deputy registrars know which applicants are eligible to register to vote.”

The Ohio officials argued the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans and Red, Wine, and Blue don’t have standing because they can’t demonstrate how the change harms their members. The state pointed to a woman named Margaret Dutcher, referenced in the challengers’ filings, who has a passport but believes she shouldn’t have to show it to register to vote.

“If she refuses to produce her passport,” the state said, “any injury will be self-inflicted.”

The decision

In his decision, District Judge Solomon Oliver focused on the question of when a driver’s license application is “submitted.” That’s the point at which the Bureau of Motor Vehicles must offer to register a person under the Motor Voter Act.

Ohio’s officials contend an application isn’t submitted until a person presents all the required identity documents. The challengers, however, argue an application is submitted when a person applies — regardless of whether they have all the required documents.

In Dutcher’s case, she and her husband visited the BMV with several documents after moving to Ohio from California. Dutcher had a U.S. Passport, her California driver’s license, two utility bills and a Social Security card with her prior name. The BMV employee told Dutcher her documents were insufficient to get a license, and therefore she could not register to vote.

Dutcher was able to register on a second visit after collecting additional documents but told the court that rigamarole “creates unnecessary obstacles to voting.”

The judge noted the irony that Dutcher actually provided the proof of citizenship Ohio law demands but still couldn’t register because “Ohio has made the voter registration offer contingent on the success of a person’s driver’s license application.”

The correct time to give BMV visitors an opportunity to register, Oliver said in his ruling, must be the point at which they apply, not when the BMV approves their application.

“To interpret this section of the NVRA otherwise would allow states to make registering to vote at the BMV more onerous, and could result in fewer voter registrations because the opportunity to apply was not proactively offered to otherwise eligible citizens,” Oliver explained.

The injunction and next steps

Oliver issued a preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing its new documentary proof of citizenship provisions. His order notes it does not require the BMV to offer voter registration to people who actively indicate they are not a citizen.

In a press release, LaRose said he “strongly disagree(s) with that decision” and promised an immediate appeal. His office also filed a motion to stay the judge’s order, insisting the prospect of offering voter registration to incomplete applications “imposes an enormous burden on the BMV and sets the agency a Herculean task.”

LaRose pointed to the case of Maria Dearaujo, one of just six people former Attorney General Dave Yost charged after combing through hundreds of referrals from LaRose’s office. A Franklin County judge determined Dearaujo cast a ballot as a noncitizen but only on the incorrect advice of a BMV clerk.

The case “proves it’s not enough to just have a person’s attestation,” LaRose insisted.

In his most recent order, Judge Oliver asked the challengers to respond to the request for a stay by Sept. 3.

This story originally appeared at ohiocapitaljournal.com.

The post Federal court blocks Ohio’s proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

The e-cigarettes’ flavors ranged from “strawmelon” to “blueberry raspberry-gami” and virtually none of them were legal when they were sold in tobacco stores around the state. 

But as lawyers for tobacco retailers argued to the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday, only the federal government gets to enforce the rules on tobacco marketing. The state’s effort to do so, they say, is unconstitutional. 

The lawsuit is one of two major ongoing legal battles from Ohio’s government – or parts of it, at least – against flavored tobacco and nicotine products, which are seen as a lure for teenagers and young adults into an addictive habit. 

Through both cases, the court will set the limits on the power of Ohio and its cities to cut down on what they see as a looming nicotine and tobacco addiction crisis in the making. 

While adult cigarette rates have plunged, nearly 1 in 5 Ohio high schoolers say they’ve used an e-cigarette within the past 30 days. Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. 

The question before the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday was whether state officials can use state consumer protection laws to target sales of flavored vapes and e-cigarettes, all of which are illegal under federal tobacco laws. At the time of the lawsuit, the FDA had never approved a flavored tobacco product besides menthol. (In a first in May 2026, the FDA approved four flavored vape devices made by Glas.)

Despite the federal ban on non-FDA-approved tobacco products, enforcement is notoriously lax, said Marisa Katz, an attorney with the Public Health Law Center, which has backed the Ohio attorney general’s office. That puts the workload on the state. 

“They can’t monitor every product sale across the country,” she said of the FDA.

“And that’s why this case is so important because states are best positioned to respond to local problems more quickly than federal agencies are.”

Then-Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in 2024 filed civil lawsuits against Orrville Tobacco in Wayne County, Central Tobacco in Delaware County, and Elev8 Smoke Shop in Cincinnati for selling illegal vapes. Elev8 sits half a mile from a local high school.

Appellate courts have split on the issue of whether federal tobacco laws preclude state officials from intervening as an enforcer.

Mixed signals

The justices offered mixed signals Tuesday on how they might rule, speaking only in the context of questions to both sides’ attorneys. Justice Jennifer Brunner, the court’s lone Democrat, said that “consumers are being duped” when stores stock illegal products on the shelves and imply that they’re legal. 

Justice Pat DeWine, a Republican, at one point suggested that the attorney general’s office was distancing itself from some elements of its original lawsuit. But at others, he seemed to agree with Brunner. 

“Isn’t it reasonable to think that someone who walks into a store and picks it up off a shelf thinks it’s a legal product?” he said to a lawyer representing the tobacco sellers. 

Two facts drive the case, said Sam Peterson, a lawyer for now-Ohio Attorney General Andrew Wilson. The flavored e-cigarettes being sold are illegal, and the state has the legal right to prohibit the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. 

James Fraser, an attorney for Central Tobacco who specializes in tobacco and e-cigarette cases, said to justices that the state is conflating marketing approvals and product safety. 

“They say, if you put a sign next to the product in the store that says, ‘these products are illegal,’ then the state seems to be saying there is no problem,” he said.

Ohio cities ban flavored tobacco

Despite the prohibition, sales of thousands of models of flavored, disposable vapes have exploded in the U.S., according to both Katz and the findings of a U.S. Government Accountability Office study. 

Gov. Mike DeWine (father of Pat DeWine, the justice) has fought for stricter tobacco laws for much of his four decades in state and federal politics. As governor, he has tried and failed over two terms to convince lawmakers to ban flavored tobacco sales. 

Facing refusal from Republican state lawmakers, Democratic-controlled cities large and small in Ohio (especially in the Columbus area) have stepped in. Their bans vary, sometimes including flavors of Zyns, an increasingly popular oral nicotine pouch. The cities also enacted their own enforcement schemes to uphold these laws, plus Ohio’s 21-and-up tobacco law. 

Republican state lawmakers responded with a “preemption” law, which is essentially the state’s way of claiming a policy arena for itself and forbidding cities from passing stiffer regulations of their own. They managed to secure the supermajority required to override a veto from Gov. DeWine. 

Cities have challenged the law, citing a home rule provision in the state constitution that grants them political autonomy. Oral arguments were held in June.

The Ohio Supreme Court is now poised to rule on both cases.

This story originally appeared at signalohio.com.

The post Vape sellers to Ohio Supreme Court: crackdown is unconstitutional appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

State officials have finalized the language voters will see on the ballot this November when they decide whether to add Ohio’s existing voter ID requirement to the state constitution.

The Ohio Ballot Board approved the ballot language for Issue 3, the measure’s official name, during a meeting at the Statehouse on Monday. The vote was 4-1, with Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora joining the board’s Republican members, including Secretary of State Frank LaRose, in approving the language.

For instance, the ballot language’s title describes Issue 3 as requiring “voters to present photo identification in order to vote.” The approved language also includes four bullet points that describe what the amendment does.

The seemingly banal process of writing and approving ballot language for proposed state constitutional amendments has been a major political battleground in Ohio in recent years. That’s because research has shown voters can be swayed by ballot language, since many only learn about a proposed ballot issue when they show up to vote.

Democrats accused Republicans of writing biased ballot language intended to defeat a citizen-proposed abortion-rights amendment that voters approved in 2023, and have said the language Republicans wrote for a redistricting reform amendment in 2024 contributed to its defeat.

But on Monday, the discussion around Issue 3 was relatively muted.

Democrats pushed for minor technical revisions to the language and an accompanying issue summary. Republicans accepted two of them – including adding the word “unexpired” to a section describing Ohio driver licenses and Ohio state IDs as acceptable forms of government ID.

Republicans also agreed to add the phrase “one of the specific types of government‑issued photo identification listed” to a section with the official explanation of Issue 3 describing how voters could only present certain types of photo IDs.

This story originally appeared at signalohio.com.

The post Ballot language set for Issue 3, the Ohio voter ID amendment appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.