Assessment Of Civil Penalties

(1) The Secretary of State may impose a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each and any violation of Tennessee Code Annotated Section 35-11-101 et seq. or any rule thereunder. (2) Upon notice to affected parties of the imposition of civil penalties by the Secretary of State, the affected party may seek review by requesting a hearing, which shall be conducted pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, Title 4, Chapter 5. (3) Any civil penalty shall be enforced in the following manner: (a) If a petition for review of the assessment of a penalty through a “contested case” hearing is not filed within thirty (30) days after the date the assessment is served, the affected party shall be deemed to have consented to the assessment and it shall become final; (b) Whenever any assessment has become final, because of a person’s failure to appeal the Secretary of State’s assessment or otherwise, the Secretary of State, in the name of the state, may apply to the appropriate court for a judgment and seek execution on such judgment. The court, in such proceedings, shall treat the failure to appeal such assessment as a confession of judgment in the amount of the assessment; and (c) The Secretary of State may institute proceedings for assessment in the chancery court of Davidson County or in the chancery court of the county in which all or part of the violation or failure to comply occurred, or in the county in which such person resides, has such person’s principal place of conducting solicitations, or has conducted or transacted business or solicitation campaigns.