Section 203C.36A. Civil penalties.

  1.  The department shall establish, by rule, civil penalties which may be administratively or judicially assessed against a warehouse operator for a violation of this chapter.

  2.  The amount of a civil penalty shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars. Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation. The amount of the civil penalty that may be assessed in an administrative case shall not exceed the amount recommended by the grain industry peer review panel established pursuant to section 203.11B. Moneys collected in civil penalties by the department or the attorney general shall be deposited in the general fund of the state.

  3.  A civil penalty may be administratively assessed only after an opportunity for a contested case hearing under chapter 17A. The department may be represented in an administrative hearing or judicial proceeding by the attorney general. A civil penalty shall be paid within thirty days from the date that an order or judgment for the penalty becomes final. When a person against whom a civil penalty is administratively assessed under this section seeks timely judicial review of an order imposing the penalty as provided under chapter 17A, the order is not final until all judicial review processes are completed. When a person against whom a civil penalty is judicially assessed under this section seeks a timely appeal of judgment, the judgment is not final until the right of appeal is exhausted.

  4.  A person who fails to timely pay a civil penalty as provided in this section shall pay, in addition to the penalty, interest at the rate of one and one-half percent of the unpaid balance of the assessed penalty for each month or part of a month that the penalty remains unpaid.

99 Acts, ch 106, §15