It’s finally over.

The Ohio House held its final voting session of 2025 in which it, after years of debate, finally agreed with the state Senate over what to do about THC.

Specifically, talks had mostly been waylaid by the emergence of intoxicating hemp products – the kind available in bars, restaurants and carry-out retail locations.

Republicans unveiled a deal around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the House approved it after 1 a.m. the next morning. What comes next?

Hemp compromise dies and then is resurrected

Hemp bill negotiations seemed as though they were on life support after Senate President Rob McColley – who had been planning to approve a hemp bill sometime Wednesday – called it a night, sending the Senate home around 9:30 p.m.

But the conference committee – a special negotiating team of three House members and three senators – kept talking. After House leadership wrangled 52 Republican votes, a deal was unveiled and then approved by the House. The resulting bill would ban selling edible intoxicating hemp products – like the unregulated kind Gov. Mike DeWine has tasked his staffers’ teenage children with buying to prove a point – outside of state marijuana dispensaries.

But it contains a temporary exception for THC beverages – which businesses with a liquor license will generally be allowed to sell. This is similar to how they operate now.

This carve out would only remain in place until shortly after a recently passed federal ban on hemp products takes effect.

That federal ban will be enacted on Nov. 12, 2026 – a date that, I’m sure completely coincidentally, falls about a week after Election Day.

So when will the hemp bill take effect?

The Senate helped negotiate the bill the House voted on. But it has yet to actually approve it.

The first opportunity for senators to vote is on Dec. 9, when the Senate has a tentative session scheduled. McColley referenced this date while speaking with reporters on Wednesday evening, before the breakthrough in negotiations.

Once the Senate approves the hemp bill, it would head to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature and take effect 90 days later, probably sometime in March or April.

But once the governor signs the bill, the edible hemp industry – which has organized in force this year – could have options to delay its implementation and buy time to lobby the state or federal government for more favorable treatment.

First, they could follow a tried-and-true tactic – sue the state and try to get a judge to block it.

A second, less likely option: They could try to repeal the law in a statewide vote – an expensive process that eventually requires them to gather about 250,000 voter signatures. The industry has had preliminary discussions about that possibility, according to one lobbyist.

In an interview, state Rep. Brian Stewart, who helped lead negotiations for House Republicans, said most parties with an interest in the bill were happy with the outcome.

For those that weren’t, he said their best option will be to lobby the federal government.

“This industry was operating in a grey area,” he said. “These people took a risk getting involved with it.”

With the big fight over marijuana over, Stewart said he plans to soon introduce a bill addressing more granular issues within the industry. He also said he’s heard the federal government might specifically be more likely to lift the ban on hemp drinks.

More on what’s in the bill – and why Democrats don’t like it

All 24 of the Democrats present in the chamber on Wednesday voted against the marijuana bill – a drop-off in bipartisan support compared to the three Democrats who voted against a previous version three weeks ago.

They took issue with how the final version of the bill watered down elements that Democrats had supported, such as by eliminating language that would have banned employers from firing workers over marijuana use.

That, plus the overall decision to comply with the federal hemp ban, turned Democrats against the bill, according to state Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney of Westlake, who represented House Democrats in negotiations.

“In the last two weeks, we have gone backwards,” Dani Isaacsohn, the Democratic House minority leader, said in a floor speech.

The bill contains other provisions Democrats backed – including a streamlined process for expunging past marijuana-related crimes. It also releases marijuana sales tax revenues to local governments that voters approved when they legalized marijuana in 2023 – something local officials have angrily pushed for all year.

Christian conservative bills get preliminary approvals

As we previously reported, the House and Senate both gave final approval on Wednesday to bills cutting and overhauling property taxes and ending the grace period for mailed absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day.

Lawmakers approved other notable bills on Wednesday, all of which are priorities for religious, socially conservative groups, and all of which still need approval from the opposite chamber to take effect.

They are:

• Senate Republicans approved Senate Bill 34, which would require schools to display at least four options from a list of nine historical documents, one of which is the Ten Commandments, if these items or funds for them are donated to the school. Republicans downplayed the Ten Commandments part of the bill – while arguing the country was founded on the values within them – while Democrats said the bill clearly violates the separation of church and state. 

• House Republicans approved House Bill 324, which would ban doctors from prescribing certain drugs without seeing a patient in person at least twice, rather than prescribing through the mail. Among the affected drugs are mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill. 

• House Republicans approved House BIll 485, also called the “Baby Olivia Bill.” It would require schools to show students between fifth and 12th grade a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion group – or a “substantially similar” video. 
  
• House Republicans approved House Bill 486, AKA the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, which permits public schools and universities to include instruction about the “positive impacts of religion on American history” with a focus on “Judeo-Christian Values.” 

A quick note to close out – State Signals will pause next week for the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll see you the following week.