The department shall accept or deny an application within 90 calendar days of receipt of a completed application. The department may deny, condition, suspend, or revoke a license issued pursuant to this chapter upon any of the following grounds and in the manner provided in this chapter:

(a) Upon one flagrant violation, as determined by the department, or upon repeated violations, by the holder or applicant, of any one or combination of the sections of this division or under any one or combination of the regulations promulgated by the department under the authority of this division.

(b) Upon one flagrant violation, as determined by the department, or upon repeated violations, by a holder’s or applicant’s agent, employee, or contractor, or of an organization or entity in which the holder or applicant holds a significant financial interest, of any one or combination of the sections of this division or any one or combination of the regulations promulgated under this division under circumstances where the holder or applicant knew or should have known and failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the violation or failed to report the violation to the department upon learning of the violation.

(c) Upon the conviction of the holder or applicant of a crime that includes as one of its elements the financial victimization of another person. However, if the licensee was licensed prior to January 1, 1998, and the department knew of, or was on notice of, the conviction, that conviction may not form the basis of a disciplinary action under this subdivision.

(d) On the grounds of a false or misleading statement by a holder or applicant that the holder or applicant knew or should have known to be false or misleading, directed to any official of any government concerning the scope of any indicia of authority, including, but not limited to, the holder’s or applicant’s license associated with the holder’s or applicant’s business, the standards under which the indicia was authorized, the contents of the application for licensure, or the holder’s or applicant’s relationship to the indicia.

(e) On the grounds that a holder or applicant, or a holder’s or applicant’s agency, employee, or contractor, or an organization or entity in which a holder or applicant holds a significant financial interest, deceived a grower in any material matter. Deception, for purposes of this subdivision, does not require scienter, but requires active misrepresentation where the actor knew the representation to be false or where the actor should have known, with due consideration, that he or she did not know whether or not the representation was true or false.

(Repealed and added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 696, Sec. 53. Effective January 1, 1998.)