(a) No registrant or applicant may be disciplined or denied registration except according to procedures satisfying the requirements of this section. A denial or discipline not in accord with this section shall be void and without effect.
(b) Any application denial or registrant discipline shall be done in good faith and in a fair and reasonable manner. Any procedures that conform to the requirements of this chapter are fair and reasonable, but a court may also find other procedures to be fair and reasonable when the full circumstances of the application denial or registrant discipline are considered.
(c) A procedure is fair and reasonable if all of the following apply:
(1) It provides the giving of 15 days prior notice of the application denial or registration discipline and the reasons therefor.
(2) It provides an opportunity for the applicant or registrant to be heard, either orally or in writing, not less than five days before the effective date of the application denial or registrant discipline by a person or body authorized to decide that the proposed application denial or registrant discipline not take place.
(d) Any notice required under this section may be given by any method reasonably calculated to provide actual notice. Any notice given by mail must be given by first-class or express mail sent to the last address of the applicant or registrant shown on the council’s records.
(e) Any action challenging an application denial or registrant discipline, including any claim alleging defective notice, shall be commenced within one year after the effective date of the application denial or registrant discipline in the superior court in and for the county of the council’s principal place of business. If the action is successful, the court may order any relief, including reinstatement, that it finds equitable under the circumstances.
(f) The council may charge applicants and registrants a reasonable regulatory fee as a condition of any hearing requested by the applicant or registrant for the purpose of contesting denial of a registration or discipline of a registrant. This fee shall not exceed the reasonable cost to the council of providing the hearing. Upon a favorable judgment for the council in any proceeding, the council shall be entitled to recover its reasonable attorney’s fees.
(g) This section governs only the procedures for application denial or registrant discipline and not the substantive grounds therefor. An application denial or registrant discipline based upon substantive grounds that violates contractual or other rights of the applicant or registrant or is otherwise unlawful is not made valid by compliance with this section.
(Added by Stats. 2013, Ch. 660, Sec. 8. (SB 484) Effective January 1, 2014. Repealed as of January 1, 2023, pursuant to Section 22259.)