§ 89C-21. Disciplinary action Reexamination, revocation, suspension, reprimand, or civil penalty.
§ 89C‑21. Disciplinaryaction Reexamination, revocation, suspension, reprimand, or civil penalty.
(a) The Board mayreprimand the licensee, suspend, refuse to renew, or revoke the certificate oflicensure, or, as appropriate, require reexamination, for any engineer or landsurveyor, who is found:
(1) Guilty of thepractice of any fraud or deceit in obtaining a certificate of licensure orcertificate of authorization.
(2) Guilty of any grossnegligence or misconduct in the practice of the profession.
(3) Guilty of any felonyor any crime involving moral turpitude.
(4) Guilty of violationof the Rules of Professional Conduct, as adopted by the Board.
(5) To have beendeclared insane or incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction and has notlater been lawfully declared sane or competent.
(6) Guilty ofprofessional incompetence. In the event the Board finds that a certificateholder is incompetent the Board may, in its discretion, require oral or writtenexaminations, or other indication of the certificate holder's fitness topractice engineering or land surveying and suspend the license during any suchperiod.
(b) The Board may (i)revoke a certificate of authorization, or (ii) to suspend a certificate ofauthorization for a period of time not exceeding two years, of any corporationor business firm where one or more of its officers or directors have committedany act or have been guilty of any conduct which would authorize a revocationor suspension of their certificates of licensure under the provision of thissection.
(c) The Board may levya civil penalty not in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for anyengineer or not in excess of two thousand dollars ($2,000) for any landsurveyor who violates any of the provisions of subdivisions (1) through (4) ofsubsection (a) of this section. The clear proceeds of all civil penaltiescollected by the Board, including civil penalties collected pursuant to G.S.89C‑22(c), shall be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund inaccordance with G.S. 115C‑457.2.
(d) Before imposing andassessing a civil penalty and fixing the amount, the Board shall, as a part ofits deliberation, take into consideration the following factors:
(1) The nature, gravity,and persistence of the particular violations;
(2) The appropriatenessof the imposition of a civil penalty when considered alone or in combinationwith other punishment;
(3) Whether theviolation(s) were done willfully and maliciously; and
(4) Any other factorswhich would tend to either mitigate or aggravate the violation(s) found toexist. (1921, c.1, s. 10; C.S., s. 6055(l); 1939, c. 218, s. 2; 1951, c. 1084, s. 1; 1953, c.1041, s. 10; 1957, c. 1060, s. 5; 1973, c. 1331, s. 3; 1975, c. 681, s. 1;1989, c. 669, s. 1; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 671, s. 6; 1998‑118, s.19; 1998‑215, s. 134; 2003‑347, s. 2.)