Title 42
State Affairs and Government

Chapter 17.6
Administrative Penalties for Environmental Violations

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-17.6-4

§ 42-17.6-4. Right to adjudicatory hearing.

(a) Whenever the director seeks to assess an administrative penalty on any person other than through an expedited citation issued pursuant to § 42-17.6-3(c), the person shall have the right to an adjudicatory hearing under chapter 35 of this title, the provisions of which shall apply except when they are inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter.

(b) A person shall be deemed to have waived his or her right to an adjudicatory hearing unless, within twenty (20) days of the date of the director’s notice that he or she seeks to assess an administrative penalty, the person files with the director or the clerk of the administrative adjudication division a written statement denying the occurrence of any of the acts or omissions alleged by the director in the notice, or asserting that the money amount of the proposed administrative penalty is excessive. In any adjudicatory hearing authorized pursuant to chapter 35 of this title, the director shall, by a preponderance of the evidence, prove the occurrence of each act or omission alleged by the director.

(c) If a person waives his or her right to an adjudicatory hearing, the proposed administrative penalty shall be a final agency order immediately upon the waiver. The director may institute injunctive proceedings in the superior court for Providence County for enforcement of the final administrative penalty as a final agency order.

History of Section.
P.L. 1987, ch. 243, § 2; P.L. 1989, ch. 508, § 2; P.L. 2007, ch. 340, § 22; P.L. 2013, ch. 290, § 2; P.L. 2013, ch. 400, § 2; P.L. 2021, ch. 147, § 6, effective July 3, 2021; P.L. 2021, ch. 148, § 6, effective July 3, 2021.