Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-92
Section 7130.504 - Penalties(a) Summary offense.--Any person who violates any provisions of this act or any regulations or order promulgated or issued hereunder commits a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 for each separate offense and in default thereof shall be imprisoned for a term of not more than 90 days. All summary proceedings under this act may be brought before any district justice or magistrate in the county where the offense was committed, and to that end jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon district justices and magistrates, subject to appeal by either party in the manner provided by law.(b) Misdemeanor.--Any person who violates any provision of this act or any regulation or order promulgated or issued hereunder, within two years after having been convicted of any summary offense under this act, commits a misdemeanor of the third degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $25,000 for each separate offense or imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year, or both.(c) Felony.--Any person who intentionally, knowingly or recklessly violates any provision of this act or any regulation or order of the department or any term or condition of any permit or license, and whose acts or omissions cause or create the possibility of a public nuisance or bodily harm to any person, commits a felony of the second degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $2,500 nor more than $100,000 per day for each violation, or to a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than ten years, or both.(d) Separate offense for each day.--Each day of continued violation of any provisions of this act or any regulation or order promulgated or issued pursuant to this act or any term or condition of any permit or any license shall constitute a separate offense.(e) Civil penalty.--(1) In addition to proceeding under any other remedy available at law or in equity for a violation of this act or a regulation or order of the department promulgated or issued hereunder, the department may assess a civil penalty upon the person for the violation. This penalty may be assessed whether or not the violation was willful or negligent. The civil penalty shall not exceed $25,000 for each violation.(2) In determining the civil penalty, the department shall consider, where applicable, the willfulness of the violation, gravity of the violation, good faith of the person charged, history of the previous violations, danger to the public health and welfare, damage to the air, water, land or other natural resources of the Commonwealth or their uses, cost of restoration or abatement, savings resultant to the person in consequence of the violation and any other relevant facts.(3) The person charged with the penalty shall have 30 days to pay the proposed penalty in full or, if the person wishes to contest either the amount of the penalty or the fact of the violation, to file within a 30-day period an appeal of the action with the Environmental Hearing Board. Failure to appeal within 30 days shall result in a waiver of all legal rights to contest the violation or the amount of the penalty.(4) Civil penalties shall be payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and shall be collectible in any manner provided by law for collection of debts. If any person liable to pay a penalty neglects or refuses to pay the same after demand, the amount, together with interest and any costs that may accrue, shall be a lien in favor of the Commonwealth upon the property, both real and personal, of the person, but only after same has been entered and docketed of record by the prothonotary of the county where the property is situated. The department may, at any time, transmit to prothonotaries of the respective counties certified copies of all such liens, and it shall be the duty of each prothonotary to enter and docket the same of record in his office and to index the same as judgments are indexed.1988, Feb. 9, P.L. 31, No. 12, § 504, imd. effective.