On October 14, 2026, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas ruled that the Ohio Legislature passed unconstitutional provisions in the 2025 Budget Bill, HB 96. The Ohio Constitution prohibits bills that contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title. This is called the one-subject rule.
The two provisions struck by the Court of Common Pleas were the prohibition against using community air monitoring and instructing Ohio EPA to remove the Air Nuisance Rule from federal enforcement.
For the past 50 years, residents of Ohio have been able to use the Ohio Air Nuisance Rule to federally enforce violations of air pollution laws. Ohio’s Air Nuisance Rule makes it an unlawful act for any person or entity to cause air pollution in amounts that endanger public health, safety, or welfare. The court required Ohio EPA to withdraw its request to eliminate the Air Nuisance Rule (ANR) from federal enforcement. The federally enforceable ANR has allowed communities to act to protect themselves and from air pollution.
Community air monitoring is essential for people to know about levels of pollution that they are experiencing and to be able to seek changes in permits and address pollution violations.
The Ohio Environmental Council, Sierra Club, SOBE Concerned Citizens, Freshwater Accountability Project, and Sierra Club member Donna Ballinger had filed a lawsuit against the State of Ohio and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in October 2025, seeking to have the amendment declared unconstitutional, to allow citizens to continue to enforce the ANR under the Clean Air Act citizen provision, and to continue to use community air pollution monitoring to enforce the ANR. The court’s ruling achieves each one of the plaintiffs’ goals and confirms that the state’s actions violated Ohio’s constitution.
Neil Waggoner, Midwest Beyond Coal Campaign Manager for the Sierra Club, said “The court’s ruling supports what Ohioans already understood; the legislature’s underhanded bootstrapping of the repeal of the Air Nuisance Rule to the biennial budget should never have taken place. The repeal of the Air Nuisance Rule has never been popular nor justified, and the State of Ohio’s own records show it’s a critical tool the public and state agencies use to hold big polluters accountable. The court’s ruling is clear, and the State of Ohio should move expeditiously to end the current repeal effort and should not take any further action to undermine the rule again.”
Dave Altman, on behalf of plaintiff Donna Ballinger said, “It is amazing the extent that the state and those influencing the state are willing to go to take away a decades-old citizen enforcement right. If Ohio spent half that effort protecting those, like Donna, living near the fencelines of polluters, those Ohioans would live longer and have healthier, happier lives. Donna, Marilyn Wall and Donna’s legal team are gratified by the court’s order.”
The following quote can be attributed, in whole or in part, to Miranda Leppla, Director, for the Case Western Reserve University School of Law Kramer Environmental Law Clinic:
“Lawmakers cannot use the state budget to bypass constitutional safeguards and strip Ohioans of tools to protect their health and communities. This ruling reinforces the importance of holding the government accountable and ensuring residents can document pollution and seek meaningful enforcement.”
Counsel from the Case Western Environmental Law Clinic, AltmanNewman Co. LPA, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, and the Ohio Environmental Council represent the parties.
Media coverage of this decision:
- WCPO
- Signal Ohio
- The Washington Post
- Cleveland Plain Dealer (Subscription required)
- WVXU
- Ideastream Public Media
- Case Western Reserve
- Associated Press
