Press Releases

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Mayors Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of mayors in Ohio’s 30 largest cities, issued the following statement from Executive Director Keary McCarthy on Ohio municipalities’ constitutional right to home rule in Columbus v. State, as Ohio cities argued this morning in the Ohio Supreme Court.

“As Ohioans debate the impacts of data center developments, it has become even more clear that residents and local communities must have a voice in these types of decisions. This is why Ohio’s Constitution gives local communities the right to home rule. It is also why these protections must be upheld and protected. 

“Today, the Ohio Supreme Court heard a case regarding the rights of local communities to protect their youngest residents from dangerously addictive flavored tobacco products in the absence of any meaningful state regulations. We applaud the bipartisan group of cities who are fighting to protect the foundational principles of local self governance and we urge the courts to maintain Ohio’s home rule rights”. 

The Ohio Mayors Alliance, together with the Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, submitted an amicus brief in Columbus v. State arguing that the Ohio Supreme Court must preserve the Ohio Constitution’s guarantee of municipal home rule. That brief is available here.

The Ohio Mayors Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of mayors in Ohio’s largest cities. It has been working to strengthen the partnership between state and local leaders since its formation in 2016. For more information on the group’s policy priorities and its membership, please visit: OhioMayorsAlliance.org.

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Contact:

Tristina Schilling
614-824-5033
tristina@ohiomayorsalliance.org