25-2713. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS. (1) Any person convicted of violating any of the provisions of this chapter, or the rules promulgated under this chapter, or who shall impede, obstruct, hinder, or otherwise prevent or attempt to prevent said director or a duly authorized agent in performance of their duty in connection with the provisions of this chapter, shall be adjudged 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 the provisions of this chapter involving the composition of a lot of commercial feed, a certified copy of the official analysis signed by the director shall be accepted as prima facie evidence of the composition.

(2) Any person who violates or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter or any rules promulgated 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 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 such 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. Moneys collected for violation of a rule shall be remitted to the feed and fertilizer account.

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

(4) It shall be the duty of each prosecuting attorney to whom any violation is reported to 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 is hereby authorized to apply for and the court to grant a temporary or permanent injunction restraining any person from violating or continuing to violate any of the provisions of this chapter or any rules promulgated under this chapter notwithstanding the existence of other remedies at law. Said injunction to be issued without bond.

History:

[(25-2713) 25-2726, added 1953, ch. 243, sec. 12, p. 366; am. 1974, ch. 18, sec. 166, p. 364; am. 1993, ch. 12, sec. 9, p. 48; am. and redesig. 2006, ch. 57, sec. 13, p. 179.]