© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio House Votes to Get Rid of 'Wink-Wink' Fireworks Restrictions

photo of American Fireworks
AMERICAN FIREWORKS

For decades, customers at fireworks stores in Ohio have had to sign forms promising they will leave the state before setting them off. Now the Ohio House has passed a bill that would loosen state regulations on fireworks sales. 

The bill would allow retail sales of consumer grade fireworks beginning in 2020. Republican Rep. Bill Seitz says passage of this bill would make Ohio the 45th state to both allow sale and use, something he suggests is already happening anyway.

“It is legal today to purchase retail fireworks in the state of Ohio but only on condition, wink wink, nod nod, say no more, that you discharge them out of state. Somehow I’ve got to believe that a lot of people have been holding king’s ex behind their back when they purchase those fireworks.”

The bill, which passed the House by a 6-1 margin, allows cities to make their own restrictions on fireworks usage.  

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.