Senate moves bill to ease Ohio’s fireworks law

COLUMBUS — A locally sponsored Ohio Senate bill allowing Ohioans to light up their neighborhoods with fireworks is now moving to the House for consideration.

Senate Bill 113, sponsored by state Sens. Michael Rulli of Salem, R-33rd, and Terry Johnson of McDermott, R-14th, would allow Ohioans to discharge consumer-grade fireworks on their property — or someone else's, with permission — but only on certain holidays, including:

• New Year's Eve and New Year's Day
• Chinese New Year
• Cinco de Mayo
• Memorial Day weekend
• Juneteenth
• July 3 - 5, as well as any Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays falling before or after those dates
• Labor Day weekend
• Diwali

"Consumer-grade" fireworks — classified as 1.4G explosives — includes bottle rockets, firecrackers, ground sparklers and missiles.

Currently, Ohioans can legally buy those fireworks, but there are legal penalties and fines for firing them. The provision opening up holidays wouldn't take effect for nearly a year after the bill is filed with the Secretary of State.

If passed, several other things would happen in the first three months. The bill would create a new 4-percent fee on fireworks sales in the state, credits from which would fund firefighter training and fireworks industry regulation and enforcement.

It would also create a new committee to recommend Ohio fire code changes to the state fire marshal. The fire marshal will also regulate the "time, manner and location" of fireworks use, under the bill.

The bill passed the Senate Wednesday in a 26 to 7 vote.

"Patriotic Americans have been, albeit illegally, shooting off fireworks in this state for as long as I can remember, without the safety measures included in this legislation," Rulli said in a Wednesday news release. "With proper parameters and safety precautions, Ohioans will soon be able to celebrate our holidays safely, while enjoying this time-honored tradition.

"The bill also has huge implications for northeast Ohio businesses, like Phantom Fireworks, who have employed hundreds of people in Youngstown for decades," Rulli added.

Phantom Fireworks is the largest U.S. retailer of consumer-grade fireworks in the country. CEO Bruce Zoldan couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Last summer, following the Ohio House's passage of a similar bill, sponsored by state Rep. Michael O'Brien of Warren, D-64th, Zoldan said the law change would "double our business overnight in Ohio."

Phantom Fireworks operates 80 showrooms, which the new Senate bill would allow to double in size, up to 10,000 square feet. It would also extend a moratorium on new licensing for fireworks makers or sellers through 2022.

Last year's House bill passed both chambers but died before reaching the governor's desk, for lack of one final concurrence vote. Zoldan at the time told Mahoning Matters he wondered whether Gov. Mike DeWine would take up the issue, after being so hard-pressed for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"He wouldn't want to go against my industry and my company and, yet, wouldn't want to go against some of those other interests," Zoldan said.

He also noted opposing testimony in House committee hearings on that bill, which came from fire safety and blindness prevention groups. They reappeared in Senate committee hearings on the new bill.

"Despite industry warnings and public service announcements, many consumers believe that if something is legalized, it is inherently safe. This is the core of our concern with SB 113," said Sherill Williams, president and CEO of Ohio's Prevent Blindness affiliate, told the Senate's Veterans and Public Safety Committee Tuesday.

"We have seen injuries increase in other states once discharge has been legalized. Roughly half of all fireworks injuries are to innocent bystanders, not to the individual actually light fireworks," she continued.

"Many injuries are to children and fireworks often have a very negative effect on veterans with PTSD, animal owners, and individuals with developmental disabilities."

Dave Belcher, a retired firefighter from Fairfield County and member of the Ohio Fireworks Safety Coalition, testified to a July 4, 2020, "near miss" in which he pulled "curious, young" children from the line of fire of neighbors' fireworks.

He also said Senate Bill 113 would likely conflict with Ohio's fire and building codes.

"The fact remains, consumer fireworks are an explosive, dangerous commodity. Many have testified before with documented evidence there is extraordinarily little quality control going into the manufacturing process," he wrote in his testimony.

"Therefore, the end-product is highly susceptible to varying degrees of explosive elements. Any legalization to the discharge of consumer fireworks implies they are safe and places many innocent people (most often children — sufficiently documented by others' testimony) in harm's way."

This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 4:55 AM with the headline "Senate moves bill to ease Ohio’s fireworks law."