California · Food and Agricultural Code - FAC

FAC §55901: (a) Except as specified in Section 55902, any misdemeanor which is prescribed by this article is punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) or more than five thousand dollars ($

Misdemeanor

What this law says, in plain English

This statute prescribes penalties for misdemeanors under this article: fines between $500–$5,000, county jail time up to one year, or both. It also allows the department to recover investigative costs after conviction or court-supervised settlement.

Read the full statutory text
(a) Except as specified in Section 55902, any misdemeanor which is prescribed by this article is punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) or more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. (b) For a violation of the offense described in subdivision (a), the department may recover investigative costs, excluding attorneys’ fees and administrative overhead, for those charges where there has been a conviction in a court of law, or a court-supervised settlement has been reached. Nothing in this section allows the department to recover investigative costs for an administrative licensing action or any action that has not been filed in a court of law. (c) Any person or entity responsible for investigative costs under this section shall be allowed to audit the department’s investigative costs. The audit must be performed by a third-party certified public accountant and paid for by the person or entity requesting the audit. The department shall promulgate regulations to implement this subdivision by June 1, 2002.

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.