19.105.380 - Unprofessional conduct/disciplinary action -- Grounds -- Liability for administrative and legal costs -- Assurances of discontinuance -- Support order, noncompliance.

Unprofessional conduct/disciplinary action — Grounds — Liability for administrative and legal costs — Assurances of discontinuance — Support order, noncompliance.

(1) In addition to the unprofessional conduct in RCW 18.235.130, the director may take disciplinary action for the following conduct, acts, or conditions:

     (a) The applicant, registrant, or affiliate has failed to file copies of the camping resort contract form under RCW 19.105.360;

     (b) The applicant, registrant, or affiliate has failed to comply with any provision of this chapter;

     (c) The applicant's, registrant's, or affiliate's offering of camping resort contracts has worked or would work a fraud upon purchasers or owners of camping resort contracts;

     (d) The camping resort operator or any officer, director, or affiliate of the camping resort operator has been enjoined from or had any civil penalty assessed for a finding of dishonest dealing or fraud in a civil suit, or been found to have engaged in any violation of any act designed to protect consumers, or has been engaged in dishonest practices in any industry involving sales to consumers;

     (e) The applicant or registrant has represented or is representing to purchasers in connection with the offer or sale of a camping resort contract that a camping resort property, facility, amenity camp site, or other development is planned, promised, or required, and the applicant or registrant has not provided the director with a security or assurance of performance as required by this chapter;

     (f) The applicant or registrant has not provided or is no longer providing the director with the necessary security arrangements to ensure future availability of titles or properties as required by this chapter or agreed to in the permit to market;

     (g) The applicant or registrant is or has been employing unregistered salespersons or offering or proposing a membership referral program not in compliance with this chapter;

     (h) The applicant or registrant has breached any escrow, impound, reserve account, or trust arrangement or the conditions of an order or permit to market required by this chapter;

     (i) The applicant or registrant has filed or caused to be filed with the director any document or affidavit, or made any statement during the course of a registration or exemption procedure with the director, that is materially untrue or misleading;

     (j) The applicant or registrant has engaged in a practice of failing to provide the written disclosures to purchasers or prospective purchasers as required under this chapter;

     (k) The applicant, registrant, or any of its officers, directors, or employees, if the operator is other than a natural person, have willfully done, or permitted any of their salespersons or agents to do, any of the following:

     (i) Engage in a pattern or practice of making untrue or misleading statements of a material fact, or omitting to state a material fact;

     (ii) Employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud purchasers or members;

     (iii) Engage in a pattern or practice of failing to provide the written disclosures to purchasers or prospective purchasers as required under this chapter;

     (l) The applicant or registrant has failed to provide a bond, letter of credit, or other arrangement to ensure delivery of promised gifts, prizes, awards, or other items of consideration, as required under this chapter, breached such a security arrangement, or failed to maintain such a security arrangement in effect because of a resignation or loss of a trustee, impound, or escrow agent;

     (m) The applicant or registrant has engaged in a practice of selling contracts using material amendments or codicils that have not been filed or are the consequences of breaches or alterations in previously filed contracts;

     (n) The applicant or registrant has engaged in a practice of selling or proposing to sell contracts in a ratio of contracts to sites available in excess of that filed in the affidavit required by this chapter;

     (o) The camping resort operator has withdrawn, has the right to withdraw, or is proposing to withdraw from use all or any portion of any camping resort property devoted to the camping resort program, unless:

     (i) Adequate provision has been made to provide within a reasonable time thereafter a substitute property in the same general area that is at least as desirable for the purpose of camping and outdoor recreation;

     (ii) The property is withdrawn because, despite good faith efforts by the camping resort operator, a nonaffiliate of the camping resort has exercised a right of withdrawal from use by the camping resort (such as withdrawal following expiration of a lease of the property to the camping resort) and the terms of the withdrawal right have been disclosed in writing to all purchasers at or prior to the time of any sales of camping resort contracts after the camping resort has represented to purchasers that the property is or will be available for camping or recreation purposes;

     (iii) The specific date upon which the withdrawal becomes effective has been disclosed in writing to all purchasers and members prior to the time of any sales of camping resort contracts after the camping resort has represented to purchasers that the property is or will be available for camping or recreation purposes;

     (iv) The rights of members and owners of the camping resort contracts under the express terms of the camping resort contract have expired, or have been specifically limited, upon the lapse of a stated or determinable period of time, and the director by order has found that the withdrawal is not otherwise inconsistent with the protection of purchasers or the desire of the majority of the owners of camping resort contracts, as expressed in their previously obtained vote of approval;

     (p) The format, form, or content of the written disclosures provided therein is not complete, full, or materially accurate, or statements made therein are materially false, misleading, or deceptive;

     (q) The applicant or registrant has failed to file an amendment for a material change in the manner or at the time required under this chapter or its implementing rules;

     (r) The applicant or registrant has filed voluntarily or been placed involuntarily into a federal bankruptcy or is proposing to do so; or

     (s) A camping resort operator's rights or interest in a campground has been terminated by foreclosure or the operations in a camping resort have been terminated in a manner contrary to contract provisions.

     (2) An operator, registrant, or applicant against whom administrative or legal proceedings have been filed shall be responsible for and shall reimburse the state, by payment into the business and professions account created in RCW 43.24.150, for all administrative and legal costs actually incurred by the department in issuing, processing, and conducting any such administrative or legal proceeding authorized under this chapter that results in a final legal or administrative determination of any type or degree in favor of the department.

     (3) The director may enter into assurances of discontinuance in lieu of issuing a statement of charges or a cease and desist order or conducting a hearing under this chapter. The assurances shall consist of a statement of the law in question and an agreement not to violate the stated provision. The applicant or registrant shall not be required to admit to any violation of the law, nor shall the assurance be construed as such an admission. Violating or breaching an assurance under this subsection is grounds for suspension or revocation of registration or imposition of a fine.

     (4) The director shall immediately suspend the license or certificate of a person who has been certified pursuant to RCW 74.20A.320 by the department of social and health services as a person who is not in compliance with a support order. If the person has continued to meet all other requirements for reinstatement during the suspension, reissuance of the license or certificate shall be automatic upon the director's receipt of a release issued by the department of social and health services stating that the licensee is in compliance with the order.

[2005 c 25 § 3; 2002 c 86 § 273; 1997 c 58 § 850; 1988 c 159 § 14; 1982 c 69 § 9.]

Notes: Effective date -- 2005 c 25: See note following RCW 43.24.150.

Effective dates -- 2002 c 86: See note following RCW 18.08.340.

Part headings not law -- Severability -- 2002 c 86: See RCW 18.235.902 and 18.235.903.

Short title -- Part headings, captions, table of contents not law -- Exemptions and waivers from federal law -- Conflict with federal requirements -- Severability -- 1997 c 58: See RCW 74.08A.900 through 74.08A.904.

Effective dates -- Intent -- 1997 c 58: See notes following RCW 74.20A.320.