77.120.070 - Violation of chapter -- Penalties -- Rules.

Violation of chapter — Penalties — Rules.

(1) The department may establish by rule schedules for any penalty allowed in this chapter. The schedules may provide for the incremental assessment of a penalty based on criteria established by rule.

     (2) The director or the director's designee may impose a civil penalty or warning for a violation of the requirements of this chapter on the owner or operator in charge of a vessel who fails to comply with the requirements imposed under RCW 77.120.030 and 77.120.040. The penalty shall not exceed twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars for each day of a continuing violation. In determining the amount of a civil penalty, the department shall set standards by rule that consider if the violation was intentional, negligent, or without any fault, and shall consider the quality and nature of risks created by the violation. The owner or operator subject to such a penalty may contest the determination by requesting an adjudicative proceeding within twenty days. Any determination not timely contested is final and may be reduced to a judgment enforceable in any court with jurisdiction. If the department prevails using any judicial process to collect a penalty under this section, the department shall also be awarded its costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.

     (3) The department, in cooperation with the United States coast guard, may enforce the requirements of this chapter.

[2007 c 350 § 12; 2000 c 108 § 8.]