§ 5-84-5. Imposition of fines for unregistered activity.
(a) In addition to any other provision of law, if a person or business practices or offers to practice architecture, engineering, land surveying, or landscape architecture in the state without being registered or authorized to practice as required by law, the boards within the division may recommend that the director of the department of business regulation, or the director’s designee, issue an order imposing a fine; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to issues between the boards referred to in this subsection as to the scope of a board registrant’s authority to engage in work relating to another board’s jurisdiction or to issues relating to ISDS (individual sewage disposal systems) designers licensed by the department of environmental management.
(b) A fine ordered under this section may not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each offense. In recommending a fine, the board shall set the amount of the penalty imposed under this section after taking into account factors, including the seriousness of the violation; the economic benefit resulting from the violation; the history of violations; and other matters the board considers appropriate.
(c) Before recommending that a fine be ordered under this section, the board shall provide the person or business written notice and the opportunity to request, within thirty (30) days of issuance of notice by the board, a hearing on the record.
(d) A person or business aggrieved by the ordering of a fine under this section may file an appeal with the superior court for judicial review of the ordering of a fine.
(e) If a person or business fails to pay the fine within thirty (30) days after entry of an order under subsection (a), or if the order is stayed pending an appeal, within ten (10) days after the court enters a final judgment in favor of the department of an order appealed under subsection (d), the director may commence a civil action to recover the amount of the fine.
History of Section.
P.L. 2010, ch. 152, § 1; P.L. 2010, ch. 153, § 1; P.L. 2013, ch. 298, § 5; P.L. 2013,
ch. 378, § 5; P.L. 2018, ch. 47, art. 3, § 2.