(a) Any person who violates the requirements of this chapter:
(1) On the first offense, receives a written warning notification or complete a damage prevention education program provided by the Notification Center.
(2) On the second offense within a 12-month period, is subject to a civil penalty for a minimum of $250 and required to repeat the damage prevention education program provided by the Notification Center.
(3) On subsequent offenses within a 12-month period, is subject to a civil penalty for a minimum of $500 per violation and referral to the Department of Licensing & Consumer Affairs or the appropriate licensing board.
(b) Any person who knowingly and willfully violates any of the provisions of this chapter is subject to a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $50,000.
(c) Any person who willfully or maliciously removes a marking used by an Operator to mark the location of any Underground Facility, except in the ordinary course of excavation, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, in addition to any order for restitution, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 for each offense, by imprisonment for not more than one year or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(d) Good faith, flagrancy, or magnitude of an offense may permit deviation from subsections (a) and (b). In determining the amount of any penalty, the following must be considered:
(1) The nature, circumstances and gravity of the violation;
(2) The degree of the person’s culpability;
(3) The person’s history of prior offenses;
(4) The persons level of cooperation with the requirements of this regulation;
(5) Effect of the penalty on the person’s ability to continue business; and
(6) The good faith on the part of the person in attempting to remedy the cause of the violation.
(e) The Attorney General may bring an action to recover a civil penalty under this section. Any civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section must be paid into the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Fund.
(f) The Department of Planning & Natural Resources shall administer the civil fines and penalties or fines under subsection (a) of this section. For any disputed penalties or fines, the Commissioner of Planning & Natural Resources shall establish an Advisory Committee consisting of impartial representatives from the excavating industry, the locating industry, the Notification Center staff or board of directors, a utility Operator, and the general public.
(g) The penalties provided in this chapter are in addition to any other remedy at law or equity available to an excavator or to the Operator of a damaged Underground Facility.
(h) No civil penalty may be imposed under this section against an excavator or Operator who violates any this chapter if the violation occurred while the excavator or Operator was responding to a service outage or other emergency; but the penalty must be imposed if the violation was willful or malicious.
(i) This section may not be construed to limit any other law granting governmental immunity to government agencies or to impose any liability or duty of care not otherwise imposed by law upon any government agency.
(j) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, this section is not intended to affect any civil remedies otherwise provided by law for personal injury or for property damage.