JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is digging into a state law that hasn’t been enforced locally at all, even though it could bring in thousands in fines and keep illegal vape products out of the hands of children.

Investigator Emily Turner dug into the numbers and found a complete lack of action on the local level when it comes to this new legal tool.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE

She visited dozens of smoke shops around Jacksonville. In every one she entered, she found at least one vape product on the shelves that wasn’t allowed under a new state law.

After fighting the state for the public records, she found that the state agency in charge of enforcing that law hasn’t written a single citation or fine.

The law was touted as a way to protect children from vape products targeted directly at them.

RELATED: Action News Jax Investigates: Illegal Vape Sales

Former state Sen. Keith Perry sponsored the bill and was adamant about that.

“It’s almost sad that we as legislators had to look at and say, ‘no, no, you’re not going to be able to do this to children,’ and try to stop that,” Perry said.

The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and it had only five dissenting votes in the House.

It put the Office of Attorney General in charge of creating a list of illegal vape products and established penalties for selling them: a fine of up to $1,000 dollars per item, per day, if it remained on the shelf and a first-degree misdemeanor if it’s knowingly sold.

READ: City passes ban on smoking and vaping on Jacksonville Beach

Those mandates became enforceable March first but locally that’s not happening.

Though Action News Jax found banned vapes openly on sale in shop after shop, public records show there hasn’t been a single citation or fine issued in several of our local counties — Duval, Nassau, Clay and St Johns.

That’s not the outcome Perry said he fought for.

He said it was “a lot of work to get it done and get passed and signed by the governor. And then to find out there’s no enforcement? Frustrating.”

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

State Rep. Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) voted against the law and she said this is exactly why.

“DPBR and the folks who would be inspecting these types of things. Based on the fact that they are already stretched thin, I just felt like this would not have happened and it would have not been super useful and like, lo and behold, they’re not even doing it,” Nixon said.

DBPR is the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, in charge of inspecting everything from salons to smoke shops. It is the agency that should be enforcing the law, but hasn’t been.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Action News Jax had to involve attorneys just to get the public records. When we did, it showed no record of a single fine. DBPR did not respond to our request for an interview, but we did ask Attorney General James Uthmeier if he was satisfied with the enforcement so far.

“We’re not,” Uthmeier said. “We’re still looking for more resources to enforce. You know, this is a brand new policy … we got to work with other agencies that have authorities to properly get these things off the shelves and levy fines where appropriate.”

Uthmeier said his office is actually working on a new list of vaping products that will be illegal. He said that amended list will “be out shortly.”

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.

Action News Jax Top Stories