Committee schedules joint hearing after DLL pilot netted $900,000 in online vape enforcement fines

The Commerce & Economic Development committee on Friday said it will hold a joint hearing with the Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL) and the Attorney General's office to review online sales of vaping products after the committee chair described a DLL pilot that led to more than $900,000 in fines over a three‑year period.

The chair told members the pilot used an investigator to place online orders and, when packages arrived, refer the cases to the Attorney General’s Office; the chair said vendors were not checking IDs and were fined. “In a 3 year period, they brought in over $900,000 of fines,” the chair said. Committee members agreed to schedule a joint session next week in Room 10 to hear from DLL and the Attorney General’s Office.

The chair also said he had planned an amendment to hire a full‑time investigator at DLL using tobacco settlement funds to cover up‑front costs, though he said DLL later determined it could run the enforcement activity without new funding. The chair characterized the online sales problem as a significant enforcement gap compared with retail sales, where ID checks are more common.

Separately, the chair flagged small nitrous oxide canisters being purchased online as an additional consumer‑protection and public‑health concern. He said the cans are widely available on ecommerce sites and that the issue overlaps with public‑health concerns handled by human services; the chair said the committee may coordinate with the human services committee on that topic next year.

Next steps: the committee will convene a joint hearing with DLL and the Attorney General’s Office in Room 10 to review the pilot enforcement program and discuss consumer‑protection responses. No formal legislative action was taken at this meeting.