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Ohio smoking ban/By the numbers
62,303 — Reports of violations received by health departments
40,285 — Investigations into reports (more than one complaint can be part of an investigation)
2,828 — Number of fines
$2.98 million — Amount of fines
$2.29 million — Unpaid fines
Source: Ohio Department of Health
State and local officials will focus on collecting nearly $2.3 million in unpaid smoking ban fines after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the law passed by voters in 2006 is constitutional. (Comment on Facebook)
With the unanimous ruling, the court closed a chapter of the sometimes-controversial law, meaning officials can target the unpaid funds. Only 23 percent of the $2.98 million in fines has been collected, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Ninety percent of fine collections are disbursed to local health departments, which often investigate complaints at night or on the weekends with overtime hours.
The 2,828 fines are just a part of the statewide process for identifying possible violations. State and local health departments have received 62,303 reports of violations and have conducted 40,285 investigations (more than one complaint can be part of an investigation) since the inception of the law, which bans indoor smoking at public places or places of employment. It affects about 280,000 locations in Ohio.
“In the coming weeks, we can shift focus to enforcement,” said Mark Case, director of environmental health for Public Health — Dayton/Montgomery County. “We’ll be having conversations about the best ways to collect those unpaid fines.”
In its ruling, the court discounted arguments from a Columbus tavern owner who said that the smoking ban was meant to punish smokers, not businesses, and that fines constituted an illegal taking of property. The tavern, Zeno’s Victorian Village, was cited 10 times from July 2007 to September 2009 and fined $33,000.
“This is great news for the health of Ohioans and for the democratic process,” Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement. “The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a law passed by a statewide majority of Ohio voters, and patrons and employees of Ohio businesses will continue to enjoy surroundings that are safer because they are smoke-free.”
The attorney general’s office began meeting with the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Liquor Control in February 2011 to discuss sterner enforcement of the smoking ban because of the large number of unpaid fines.
The Division of Liquor Control took a step toward stronger actions last summer when it denied a liquor permit renewal for Peg’s Pub in Cincinnati, which has been fined 21 times for a total of $76,600, according to ODH data. It was the first time a liquor permit renewal was rejected in part because of smoking ban citations or fines.
The division has since rejected three other liquor permit renewal applications while considering large smoking ban fines. The permit holders — Belcher’s House of Rock of Mansfield, Excuses Lounge of Sandusky and Suburban Inn of Middleburg Heights — had a combined $113,700 in fines, according to letters sent to owners announcing the division’s ruling.
“We’re obviously chagrined by the outcome of the case,” said Phil Craig, executive director of the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association. “The cornerstone of hospitality in our establishments is customer choice. We like customers to be able to choose among all the different products they can choose from in our establishments and have a good time safely consuming all of them.
“Here’s a legal product they cannot choose to consume in our establishments, so obviously it waters down the things that we can do in our establishments that are fun, so that’s not good.”
The smoking ban, known as the Smoke-Free Workplace Act, was passed in November 2006 by 58 percent of voters and went into effect on May 3, 2007. Since then, public health departments in Butler, Champaign, Clark, Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Warren counties have received 10,693 violation reports and conducted 6,272 investigations, according to Ohio Department of Health data.
In September 2011, the ODH released a five-part report on the smoking ban’s impact. Among its findings, the analysis noted “no significant changes in taxable sales” because of the ban, a “reduction in the harmful effects of (secondhand smoke) exposure” and a $737,782 savings in acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations because of shorter stays.
Officials from local health departments echoed those who cheered Wednesday’s ruling, saying it will help them communicate with businesses without a question of legality.
“Now with that piece in place, it will help us to convince them this is a constitutional law, it has held up to the test, and now they need to get into compliance,” said Duane Stansbury, health commissioner at the Warren County Combined Health District and president-elect of the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners. “We can bring it to most of those folks not really happy or willing to enforce it, so they’ll come over and say, ‘Now I have to do this, whether I like it or not.’ ”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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