Ohio Officials Defend Governor’s Veto Of Hemp THC Drink Provision From Brewer’s Lawsuit

*In their lawsuit, the brewers said they face “potential criminal
enforcement actions against them for possessing millions of dollars’ worth
of inventory that they bought in good faith before the governor’s veto.”*

*By David Beasley, The Center Square*

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) had the legal authority to veto parts of an
appropriations bill that would have allowed beer companies to continue
selling hemp beverages until the end of the year, the state argued in a
filing with the state Supreme Court.

“The governor may veto any item in any bill making an appropriation of
money,” the state said in its response to a lawsuit by brewers challenging
DeWine’s veto. “For over a hundred years, everyone took the Constitution at
its word: ‘any item’ truly meant ‘any item’ in an appropriations bill.”

The brewers are asking the Supreme Court to “find a hidden limitation in
the Constitution’s text that apparently went unnoticed by generations of
legislators, governors, and litigants,” the state said. “So, this is an
easy case, or at least, it should be.”

A group of brewers sued the state, challenging DeWine’s “line item” veto of
portions of Senate Bill 56 that would have given companies until December
31 to transition out of the hemp beverage business and sell their
inventories in response to new federal legislation on hemp products.

Even though Ohio voters in 2023 approved a measure legalizing the
recreational use of marijuana, SB 56, passed late last year, placing new
restrictions on the use and sale of hemp products.

The legislation, including DeWine’s line-item veto of the one-year
transition period for brewers to sell their inventory, takes effect March
20.

“On that date, the manufacture and sale of hemp products like drinkable
cannabinoid products will become illegal,” the state said in its brief to
the Supreme Court.

The state criticized the brewers for waiting more than two months after the
veto to file a legal challenge.

“Governor DeWine line-item vetoed S.B. 56 on December 19, 2025,” the state
said. “[Brewers] inexcusably waited seventy-seven days, until March 6, to
seek ‘emergency’ relief. Under this Court’s briefing schedule, any decision
will issue no earlier than March 17, just three days before S.B. 56’s March
20 effective date.”

In their lawsuit, the brewers said they face “potential criminal
enforcement actions against them for possessing millions of dollars’ worth
of inventory that they bought in good faith before the governor’s veto.”

In addition, the veto will force them to “collectively, to lay off dozens
of employees and will cost them millions of dollars in investments and lost
sales,” their suit said.

*This story was first published by The Center Square.*

*Photo courtesy of Max Jackson.*

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