(a) Any person or officer of an association, organization or corporation who establishes, conducts, maintains or operates a child care center or group child care home without a current and valid license shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars a day for each day that such center or home is operated without a license.

(b) If the Commissioner of Early Childhood has reason to believe that a violation has occurred for which a civil penalty is authorized by subsection (a) of this section, he or she may send to such person or officer by certified mail, return receipt requested, or personally serve upon such person or officer, a notice which shall include: (1) A reference to the section or sections of the general statutes or regulations involved; (2) a short and plain statement of the matters asserted or charged; (3) a statement of the maximum civil penalty which may be imposed for such violation; and (4) a statement of the party's right to request a hearing, such request to be submitted in writing to the commissioner not later than thirty days after the notice is mailed or served.

(c) If such person or officer so requests, the commissioner shall cause a hearing to be held. The hearing shall be held in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54. If such person or officer fails to request a hearing or fails to appear at the hearing or if, after the hearing, the commissioner finds that the person or officer has committed such violation, the commissioner may, in his or her discretion, order that a civil penalty be imposed that is not greater than the penalty stated in the notice. The commissioner shall send a copy of any order issued pursuant to this subsection by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the person or officer named in such order.

(1967, P.A. 696, S. 12; P.A. 77-157, S. 10, 11; P.A. 82-256, S. 1; P.A. 85-613, S. 49, 154; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; 95-360, S. 11, 28, 32; P.A. 14-39, S. 54; P.A. 15-227, S. 25; P.A. 16-163, S. 13.)

History: P.A. 77-157 included group day care homes; P.A. 82-256 applied the penalty to operation in violation of regulations and increased penalty from $100 for each offense to $100 a day for each day of operation without a license or in violation of the regulations; Sec. 19-43l transferred to Sec. 19a-87 in 1983; P.A. 85-613 made technical change; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-360, Sec. 11 changed reference to being “fined” to “subject to a civil penalty”, deleted reference to violation of specific statutes or regulations and added Subsecs. (b) and (c) re sending notice and a hearing and Sec. 28 substituted Sec. 19a-82 for Sec. 19a-81 in list of specific statutes deleted by Sec. 11, effective July 13, 1995; P.A. 14-39 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing “shall establish, conduct, maintain or operate” with “establishes, conducts, maintains or operates”, amended Subsec. (b) by replacing reference to Commissioner of Public Health with reference to Commissioner of Early Childhood, amended Subsec. (c) by replacing “hold a hearing on the violation asserted” with “cause a hearing to be held”, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2014; pursuant to P.A. 15-227, “group day care home” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “group child care home” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 16-163 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing “day care center” with “child care center”, effective June 9, 2016.