(a) Any person who willfully interferes with any lawful action of the office shall be subject to a civil penalty of no more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each incident. The civil penalty shall be assessed by the director. If the penalty is not paid within 30 days of the assessment, the director shall initiate an action to collect the penalties in the jurisdiction in which the facility is located.
(b) Each instance of willful interference may be reported to local law enforcement and the appropriate licensing agency as an act of isolation, as defined in Section 15610.43.
(c) All civil penalties collected by the department pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Access to Facilities Account, which is hereby created within the Special Deposit Fund under Section 16370 of the Government Code. Funds in this account shall be available, upon appropriation, to the office to fund the training costs, and to reimburse the travel expenses, of local ombudsman programs throughout the state.
(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 521, Sec. 3. (SB 609) Effective January 1, 2014.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018