TITLE 22

AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE

CHAPTER 22

SOIL AND PLANT AMENDMENTS

22-2219.  Remedies for violation. (1) A person convicted of violating this chapter or the rules adopted under this chapter or who impedes, obstructs, hinders or otherwise prevents or attempts to prevent the director or a duly authorized agent from the performance of his duty in connection with this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for the first violation and not more than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) for a subsequent violation. In all prosecutions under this chapter involving the composition of a lot of a commercial soil and plant amendment product, a certified copy of the official analysis signed by the director or his duly authorized agent shall be accepted as prima facie evidence of the composition.

(2)  A person who violates or fails to comply with this chapter or any rules adopted under this chapter may be assessed a civil penalty by the department or its duly authorized agent of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each offense and shall be liable to the department for reasonable attorney’s fees. The department may assess a civil penalty in conjunction with any other department administrative action. No civil penalty may be assessed unless the person charged was given notice and opportunity for a hearing under the Idaho administrative procedure act, chapter 52, title 67, Idaho Code. If the director is unable to collect the penalty or if a person fails to pay all or a set portion of the civil penalty as determined by the department, the department may recover the amount in an action in the appropriate district court. A person against whom the director has assessed a civil penalty under this section may, within thirty (30) days of the final action by the agency making the assessment, appeal the assessment to the district court of the county in which the violation is alleged by the department to have occurred.

(3)  Nothing in this chapter requires the director or a duly authorized representative to report minor violations of this chapter for prosecution, or for the institution of seizure proceedings, when the director believes that the public interest will be best served by a suitable notice of warning in writing.

(4)  A prosecuting attorney to whom any violation is reported shall, without delay, cause appropriate proceedings to be instituted and prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction. Before the director reports a violation for prosecution by a prosecuting attorney, the director shall give the person charged with the violation an opportunity to present his view to the director.

(5)  The director may apply for and the court is authorized to grant a temporary or permanent injunction restraining any person from violating or continuing to violate this chapter or any rule adopter [adopted] under this chapter notwithstanding the existence of other remedies of law. An injunction shall be issued without bond.

History:

[22-2219, added 2001, ch. 250, sec. 3, p. 913.]