§6. Penalties for violation of state Sanitary Code

A. Except as provided otherwise in Subsection H of this Section, whoever violates any provision of the sanitary code, except those provisions dealing with isolation or quarantine of communicable disease, shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars or be imprisoned for not more than ten days, or both, for the first offense. For the second offense, he shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than fifty dollars or be imprisoned for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days, or both. For any subsequent offense, he shall be fined one hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not less than thirty days, or both.

B.(1) Whoever violates those provisions of the sanitary code dealing with the isolation or quarantine of communicable disease, or any person having such a communicable disease that may cause a severe health hazard to the community and who, after having been officially isolated or quarantined by any local health officer or by the state health officer or the duly authorized representative of either health officer, violates the provisions of the isolation or quarantine shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

(2) Any person convicted of violating the provisions of the sanitary code regarding isolation or quarantine under this Section may be confined either to the parish jail, to any state-operated hospital, or to the hospital section of the state penitentiary, at the discretion of the court. If, however, any person convicted under this Section and committed to any state-operated hospital unlawfully leaves that institution before serving his full sentence, the district court shall then commit him to the hospital section of the state penitentiary. If the superintendent of any state-operated hospital or the medical director of the hospital at the state penitentiary determines that any person committed to their respective institution under this Section is no longer harboring a communicable disease or if the disease is no longer in a communicable or infectious state and the person has not completed serving the sentence imposed upon him, the said superintendent or medical director shall transmit this information immediately to the district court which committed the person, with a request for commutation of sentence, and said district court is hereby authorized, in its discretion, to commute said sentence. Nothing in this Section is to be construed as depriving any individual of the right to decline any medical treatment or to provide other care or treatment for himself or herself at his or her own expense, which care does not cause a severe health hazard to the community, provided that the sanitary and quarantine laws, rules, and regulations relating to communicable disease are complied with.

C.(1) In addition to a criminal prosecution, the district attorney may, upon request of the state health officer or secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, or his duly authorized representative, petition the district court, and the district court may, upon such petition and for cause, restrain any person by temporary or permanent injunction for the violation of any provision of the state Sanitary Code when necessary to arrest or prevent epidemics or to abate any imminent menace to the public health.

(2) The secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health or the state health officer may also petition the court to seek injunctive relief for violations of the state Sanitary Code.

D. In addition to a criminal prosecution, to assist in enforcement and encourage abatement of violations of the state Sanitary Code, the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, upon the recommendation of the state health officer, or their duly authorized representatives, may assess civil fines or other sanctions, including but not limited to requesting injunctions, or both, against violators of the state Sanitary Code. Injunctions may be sought for Class A and Class B violations only. The secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, upon the recommendation of the state health officer, may exercise his discretion and mitigate these civil fines or other sanctions, or both, in cases where he is satisfied the violator has abated the violation and demonstrated a sincere intent to prevent future violations. These civil fines shall not exceed one hundred dollars per day per violation and shall not exceed ten thousand dollars per violator per calendar year. These civil fines or other sanctions, or both, may include but are not limited to:

(1) Requiring the violator or his employee designee to attend training seminars in the area of the violator's operations, in lieu of a civil fine; or

(2) Civil fines determined by the gravity of the violation. These civil fines shall be assessed only after a violator of the state Sanitary Code has received notice of violation and been furnished an opportunity to comply, and upon reinspection been found to still be in violation of the state Sanitary Code and had a compliance order issued against the violator to remedy the violation of the state Sanitary Code, and the violation continues. These civil fines shall not apply to those areas of the state Sanitary Code which have their own special penalty and fine provisions by state or federal statute or regulation, including but not limited to the milk and dairy program and public water system supervision program.

E. In addition to a criminal prosecution, to assist in collection of license or permit renewals, the Louisiana Department of Health, office of public health, shall assess late charges for failure to timely renew licenses or permits issued by the Louisiana Department of Health, office of public health, which late fees shall be ten percent of the license or permit fee, but no more than one hundred dollars, if paid to and received by the Louisiana Department of Health after thirty days of the due date, and if not paid and received within ninety days of the due date, the renewal fee late charge shall be equal to the original renewal fee.

F. The provisions of Paragraph (C)(2), and Subsections D and E shall not apply to floating camps, including but not limited to houseboats which are classified as vessels by the United States Coast Guard.

G.(1) In all cases wherein the secretary and state health officer have issued an order assessing a civil penalty or requiring specific compliance actions to be undertaken, which order has become final as a result of all appeals being exhausted or delays having lapsed, if the penalty assessed has not been paid or the actions undertaken, attorneys for the department may file an ex parte petition in the district court for the parish in which the violation occurred, in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure Article 2782, attaching a certified copy of the order to the petition, seeking to make the order of the secretary and state health officer a judgment of the district court and making the judgment executory.

(2) The district court shall grant the relief prayed for and issue a judgment without a trial de novo of the facts supporting the order. Upon good cause shown and upon the posting of a bond in favor of the state as the court may require, a person against whom a judgment is rendered requiring specific compliance actions to be undertaken may, within ten days of service of the judgment, seek an extension, modification, or suspension of the judgment by summary proceeding. The hearing shall be limited to the issue of whether or not good cause has been shown for granting an extension, modification, or suspension of the order and whether or not compliance has taken place.

H. Any violation of the rules and regulations contained in Chapter 3 of Part IX of Title 51 of the Louisiana Administrative Code pertaining to refrigeration of oysters, clams, and mussels, shall constitute a class four violation as delineated in R.S. 56:34(A) but shall not include forfeiture of anything seized in connection with the violation as required by R.S. 56:34(B).

Acts 1976, No. 346, §1. Amended by Acts 1977, No. 401, §1; Acts 2001, No. 516, §1; Acts 2004, No. 772, §1; Acts 2008, No. 574, §1; Acts 2013, No. 35, §1.