(415 ILCS 135/69)
Sec. 69. Civil penalties.
(a) Except as provided in this Section, any person who violates any provision of this Act or any regulation adopted by the Council, or any license or registration or term or condition thereof, or that violates any order of the Council under this Act, shall be liable for a civil penalty as provided in this Section. The penalties may, upon order of the Council or a court of competent jurisdiction, be made payable to the Drycleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund, to be used in accordance with the provisions of the Drycleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund Act.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this Section:
(1) Any person who violates subsection (a) of Section
60 of this Act by failing to pay the license fee when due may be assessed a civil penalty of $5 per day for each day after the license fee is due until the license fee is paid. The penalty shall be effective for license fees due on or after July 1, 1999 and before June 30, 2011. For license fees due on or after July 1, 2011, any person who violates subsection (a) of Section 60 of this Act by failing to pay the license fee when due may be assessed a civil penalty, beginning on the 31st day after the license fee is due, in the following amounts: (i) beginning on the 31st day after the license fee is due and until the 60th day after the license fee is due, $3 for each day during which the license fee is not paid and (ii) beginning on the 61st day after the license fee is due and until the license fee is paid, $5 for each day during which the license fee is not paid.
(2) Any person who violates subsection (d) or (h) of
Section 65 of this Act shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for the first violation and a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a second or subsequent violation.
(3) Any person who violates Section 67 of this Act
shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $100 per day for each day the person is not registered to sell drycleaning solvents.
(c) The Council shall issue an administrative assessment setting forth any penalties it imposes under subsection (b) of this Section and shall serve notice of the assessment upon the party assessed. The Council's determination shall be deemed correct and shall serve as evidence of the correctness of the Council's determination that a penalty is due. Proof of a determination by the Council may be made at any administrative hearing or in any legal proceeding by a reproduced copy or computer print-out of the Council's record relating thereto in the name of the Council under the certificate of the Council.
If reproduced copies of the Council's records are offered as proof of a penalty assessment, the Council must certify that those copies are true and exact copies of records on file with the Council. If computer print-outs of the Council's records are offered as proof of a determination, the Council Chairman must certify that those computer print-outs are true and exact representations of records properly entered into standard electronic computing equipment, in the regular course of the Council's business, at or reasonably near the time of the occurrence of the facts recorded, from trustworthy and reliable information. A certified reproduced copy or certified computer print-out shall, without further proof, be admitted into evidence in any administrative or legal proceeding and is prima facie proof of the correctness of the Council's determination.
Whenever notice is required by this Section, the notice may be given by United States registered or certified mail, addressed to the person concerned at his last known address, and proof of mailing shall be sufficient for the purposes of this Act. Notice of any hearing provided for by this Act shall be given not less than 7 days before the day fixed for the hearing. Following the initial contact of a person represented by an attorney, the Council shall not contact that person but shall only contact the attorney representing that person.
(d) The penalties provided for in this Section may be recovered in a civil action instituted by the Attorney General in the name of the people of the State of Illinois.
(e) The Attorney General may also, at the request of the Council or on his or her own motion, institute a civil action for an injunction, prohibitory or mandatory, to restrain violations of this Act, any rule or regulation adopted under this Act, any license or registration or term or condition of a license or registration, or any Council order, or to require other actions as may be necessary to address violations thereof.
(f) Without limiting any other authority which may exist for the awarding of attorney's fees and costs, the Council, or a court of competent jurisdiction, may award costs and reasonable attorney's fees, including the reasonable costs of expert witnesses and consultants, to the Attorney General in a case where the Attorney General has prevailed against a person who has committed a willful, knowing, or repeated violation of this Act, any rule or regulation adopted under this Act, any license or registration or term or condition of a license or registration, or any Council order. Any funds collected under this subsection (f) in which the Attorney General has prevailed shall be deposited in the Drycleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund created in Section 10 of this Act.
(g) All final orders imposing civil penalties under this Section shall prescribe the time for payment of the penalties. If any penalty is not paid within the time prescribed, interest on the penalty shall be paid, at the rate set forth in Section 3-2 of the Illinois Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, for the period from the date payment is due until the date payment is received. However, if the time for payment is stayed during the pendency of an appeal, interest shall not accrue during the stay.
(Source: P.A. 96-774, eff. 1-1-10; 97-332, eff. 8-12-11.)
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Last modified: February 18, 2015