(a) In any order issued in resolution of a disciplinary proceeding before the board, the board or the administrative law judge may direct any practitioner or applicant found to have committed a violation or violations of law or any term and condition of board probation to pay to the board a sum not to exceed the costs of the investigation and prosecution of the case. A certified copy of the actual costs, or a good faith estimate of costs where actual costs are not available, signed by the official custodian of the record or his or her designated representative shall be prima facie evidence of the actual costs of the investigation and prosecution of the case.
(b) The costs shall be assessed by the administrative law judge and shall not be increased by the board; however, the costs may be imposed or increased by the board if it does not adopt the proposed decision of the case.
Where an order for recovery of costs is made and timely payment is not made as directed in the board’s decision the board may enforce the order for repayment in any appropriate court. This right of enforcement shall be in addition to any other rights the board may have as to any practitioner directed to pay costs.
(c) In any action for recovery of costs, proof of the board’s decision shall be conclusive proof of the validity of the order of payment and the terms for payment.
(d) (1) The board shall not renew or reinstate the license of any licensee who has failed to pay all of the costs ordered under this section.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the board may, in its discretion, conditionally renew, for a maximum of one year, the license of any licensee who demonstrates financial hardship, through documentation satisfactory to the board, and who enters into a formal agreement with the board to reimburse the board within that one-year period for those unpaid costs.
(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 308, Sec. 40. (SB 819) Effective January 1, 2010.)