189A.17 - PENALTIES.
189A.17 PENALTIES.
1. Any person who violates any provisions of this chapter for
which no other criminal penalty is provided shall be guilty of a
simple misdemeanor; but if such violation involves intent to defraud,
or any distribution or attempted distribution of an article that is
adulterated, except as defined in section 189A.2, subsection 1,
paragraph "h" such person shall be guilty of a fraudulent
practice.
2. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as requiring the
secretary to report, for the institution of legal proceedings, minor
violations of this chapter whenever the secretary believes that the
public interest will be adequately served by a suitable written
notice of warning.
3. The secretary shall also have power:
a. To gather and compile information concerning, and to
investigate from time to time the organization, business, conduct,
practices, and management of any person engaged in intrastate
commerce, and the relation thereof to other persons.
b. To require persons engaged in intrastate commerce to file
with the secretary in such form as the secretary may prescribe,
annual or special reports or answers in writing to specific
questions, furnishing to the secretary such information as the
secretary may require as to the organization, business, conduct,
practices, management, and relation to other persons of the person
filing such reports or answers. Such reports and answers shall be
made under oath, or otherwise as the secretary may prescribe, and
shall be filed with the secretary within such reasonable period as
the secretary may prescribe, unless additional time be granted in any
case by the secretary.
4. a. For the purpose of this chapter the secretary may, at
all reasonable times, examine and copy any documentary evidence of
any person being investigated or proceeded against, and may require
by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the
production of all documentary evidence of any person relating to any
matter under investigation. The secretary may sign subpoenas and
administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive
evidence.
b. Such attendance of witnesses, and the production of such
documentary evidence may be required at any designated place of
hearing. In case of disobedience to a subpoena the secretary may
invoke the aid of the district court having jurisdiction over the
matter in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the
production of documentary evidence.
c. The district court may, in case of failure or refusal to
obey a subpoena issued herein to any person, enter an order requiring
such person to appear before the secretary or to produce documentary
evidence if so ordered, or to give evidence concerning the matter in
question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be
punished by such court as contempt.
d. Upon the application of the attorney general of this state
at the request of the secretary, the court shall have jurisdiction to
issue writs of mandamus commanding any person to comply with the
provisions of this chapter or any order of the secretary pursuant
thereto.
e. The secretary may order testimony to be taken by
deposition in any proceeding or investigation pending under this
chapter at any stage of such proceeding or investigation. Such
depositions may be taken before any person designated by the
secretary and having power to administer oaths. Such testimony shall
be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition, or under
the person's direction and shall then be subscribed by the deponent.
Any person may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce
documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled
to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the
secretary as herein provided.
f. Witnesses summoned before the secretary shall be paid the
same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the district court,
and witnesses whose depositions are taken and the persons taking the
same shall severally be entitled to the same fees as are paid for
like services in such district court.
g. No person shall be excused from attending and testifying
or from producing books, papers, schedules of charges, contracts,
agreements, or other documentary evidence before the secretary or in
obedience to the subpoena of the secretary, whether such subpoena be
signed or issued by the secretary or the secretary's delegate, or in
any cause or proceeding, criminal or otherwise, based upon or growing
out of any alleged violation of this chapter for the reason that the
testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of the
person may tend to incriminate the person or subject the person to a
penalty or forfeiture; but no person shall be prosecuted or subjected
to a penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction,
matter, or thing concerning which the person is compelled, after
having claimed the privilege against self-incrimination, to testify
or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that any
individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and
punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.
5. a. Any person who neglects or refuses to attend and
testify or to answer any lawful inquiry, or to produce documentary
evidence, if it is in the person's power to do so, in obedience to
the subpoena or lawful requirement of the secretary shall be guilty
of a serious misdemeanor.
b. Any person who willfully makes, or causes to be made, any
false entry or statement of fact in any report required to be made
under this chapter, or who willfully makes, or causes to be made, any
false entry in any account, record, or memorandum kept by any person
subject to this chapter, or who willfully neglects or fails to make
or to cause to be made, full, true, and correct entries in such
accounts, records, or memoranda, of all facts and transactions
pertaining to the business of such person, or who willfully leaves
the jurisdiction of this state, or willfully mutilates, alters, or by
any other means falsifies any documentary evidence of any person
subject to this chapter or who willfully refuses to submit to the
secretary or to any of the secretary's authorized agents, for the
purpose of inspection and taking copies, any documentary evidence of
any person subject to this chapter in the person's possession or
control, shall be deemed guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor.
c. If a person required by this chapter to file an annual or
special report fails to do so within the time fixed by the secretary
for filing it, and the failure continues for thirty days after notice
of default, the person shall forfeit to this state the sum of one
hundred dollars for each day of the continuance of the failure, which
forfeiture is payable into the treasury of this state, and is
recoverable in a civil suit in the name of the state brought in the
district court of the county where the person has a principal office
or in the district court of any county in which the person does
business. The county attorneys shall prosecute for the recovery of
such forfeitures.
d. Any officer or employee of this state who makes public any
information obtained by the secretary, without the secretary's
authority, unless directed by a court, or uses any such information
to the officer's or employee's advantage, shall be deemed guilty of a
serious misdemeanor.
6. The requirements of this chapter shall apply to persons,
establishments, animals, and articles regulated under the federal
Meat Inspection Act or the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act to
the extent provided for in said federal Acts and also to the extent
provided in this chapter and in regulations the secretary may
prescribe to promulgate this chapter. Section History: Early Form
[C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 189A.17] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 123, § 79, 209; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §209
Referred to in § 331.424, 331.756(35)