TITLE 22

AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE

CHAPTER 6

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS

22-619.  Remedies for violations. (1) Any person convicted of violating any of this chapter or the rules promulgated thereunder or who impedes, obstructs, hinders, or otherwise prevents or attempts to prevent the director or a duly authorized agent from the performance of their 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 commercial fertilizer, 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)  Any person who violates or fails to comply with this chapter or any rules promulgated thereunder 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 for reasonable attorney’s fees. Assessment of a civil penalty may be made 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 pursuant to the Idaho administrative procedure act, chapter 52, title 67, Idaho Code. If the director is unable to collect the penalty or if any person fails to pay all or a set portion of the civil penalty as determined by the department, it may recover such amount by action in the appropriate district court. Any person against whom the director has assessed a civil penalty under the provisions of 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 the 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)  Each prosecuting attorney to whom any violation is reported shall cause appropriate proceedings to be instituted and prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction without delay. Before the director reports a violation for such prosecution, an opportunity shall be given the distributor 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 promulgated under the chapter notwithstanding the existence of other remedies at law. Said injunction shall be issued without bond.

History:

[22-619, added 2000, ch. 295, sec. 2, p. 1021; am. 2001, ch. 147, sec. 8, p. 523.]