Ohio to end fireworks 'liar's law' form after 2015
As fireworks use ramps up this week, this year's Independence Day will be the last one in which Ohio fireworks buyers will have to sign a form that gives the infamous "liar's law" its name.
The "liar's law" refers to a specific requirement in Ohio statutes for any purchasers of consumer fireworks, other than "novelty" items, to sign an agreement promising to take the products out of state within 48 hours.
Typically, Ohio fireworks buyers sign the paper and still use the products in state, but the law isn't strictly enforced around the July 4th holiday, said Bill Weimer, vice president of Phantom Fireworks.
The law will continue to require purchasers to take the fireworks out of state, but the recently passed Ohio budget bill removed the "liar's law" form from the process.
Among the exempted fireworks products, which Ohio law allows people to use in the state, are those labeled "novelty" items, including sparklers, party poppers, snakes, snaps and small smoke devices.
So what does that leave illegal in Ohio? Everything else.
"All of them," Weimer said. "All the rest of the consumer fireworks, from the fountains, to fire crackers, to the aerial items, rockets, Roman candles, shells that go up and give you your burst of color and noise."
Last December, a bill set to remove some of those fireworks restrictions failed to make it out of the state's House of Representatives.
But Weimer said he still thinks it's only a matter of time for Ohio, referencing how 43 other states allow the consumer grade fireworks.
"Ohio is one of the last vestiges of this kind of a law," he said.
Ohio is one of only four states that allows only "novelty" fireworks — Illinois, Iowa and Vermont are the others. Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey are the only states that ban all fireworks, including novelties.
The budget bill also once again extends the moratorium on new fireworks manufactures and wholesalers, a ban that has been in place since the mid-1980s and was written into law in 2001, the last time any changes were made to Ohio's fireworks laws. The moratorium was set to expire at the end of this year but now will be in place until the end of 2017.
Although safety has been cited as concerns for broader legalization of fireworks, as more states have legalized consumer fireworks and consumer use has gone up, the number of related injuries has decreased.
Weimer said that, from 1994 to 2014, the amount of fireworks products sold has almost doubled, going from 117 million pounds to 225.3 million pounds, according to U.S. imports data.
During that same period, the estimated number of fireworks-related injuries reported by the Consumer Products Safety Commission has dropped 16 percent. However, there has been no significant change in the number of injuries for at least the past 15 years, according to the commission's 2014 annual fireworks report.
While deaths were slightly up in 2014, overall injuries were slightly down. There were an estimated 10,500 fireworks-related injuries treated in American emergency departments in 2014, about 900 less than in 2013.
Jona Ison contributed to this report.
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