Colorado § 44-20-105 - Auto industry division - creation - powers and duties of executive director and director.

§ 44-20-105. Auto industry division - creation - powers and duties of executive director and director.

(1) There is created in the department the auto industry division, the head of which is the director of the division. The director is appointed by the executive director and serves at the pleasure of the executive director. The division is a type 2 entity, as defined in section 24-1-105, and exercises its powers and performs its duties and functions under the department.

(2) The executive director is hereby charged with the administration, enforcement, and issuance or denial of the licensing of buyer agents, distributors, manufacturer representatives, and manufacturers, and has the following powers and duties:

(a) To promulgate, amend, and repeal reasonable rules relating to those functions the executive director is mandated to carry out pursuant to this part 1 and the laws of the state of Colorado that the executive director deems necessary to implement this part 1;

(b) To employ, subject to the laws of the state of Colorado and after consultation with the board, an executive secretary for the board, who is accountable to the board and shall, pursuant to delegation by the board, discharge the responsibilities of the board under this part 1;

(c) To issue and, for reasonable cause shown or upon satisfactory proof of the unfitness of the applicant under standards established and set forth in this part 1, to refuse to issue to any applicant any license the executive director is authorized to issue by this part 1;

(d) To prescribe the forms to be used for applications for licenses to be issued by the executive director under this part 1 and to require of the applicants, as a condition precedent to the issuance of the licenses, such information concerning the applicant's fitness to be licensed under this part 1 as the executive director considers necessary;

(e) (I) To summarily issue cease-and-desist orders on such terms and conditions and for such period of time as to the executive director appears fair and just to any person who is licensed by the executive director pursuant to this part 1 if the orders are followed by notice and a hearing pursuant to section 44-20-104 (3)(e)(I);

(II) To issue cease-and-desist orders to persons acting as manufacturers without the manufacturer's license required by this part 1; and

(III) To impose a fine, not to exceed one thousand dollars per day, for each violation of section 44-20-124 (1) after a notice and hearing subject to section 24-4-105.

(3) (a) The director may:

(I) Employ such clerks, deputies, and assistants as the director considers necessary to discharge the duties imposed upon the director or executive director by this part 1 and to designate the duties of the clerks, deputies, and assistants;

(II) Investigate, upon the director's own initiative, upon the written and signed complaint of any person, or upon request by the board under section 44-20-104 (3)(f)(I), any suspected or alleged violation by a person licensed under this part 1 or of any rule promulgated under this article 20.

(b) The investigators and their supervisors utilized by the director, while actually engaged in performing their duties, have the authority as delegated by the director to issue subpoenas in relation to performance of their duties enforcing this part 1 and the authority as delegated by the director to issue summonses for violations of sections 44-20-124 (2) and 42-6-142, to issue misdemeanor summonses for violations of section 44-20-123 (1)(a), and to procure criminal records during an investigation.

(4) If any person fails to comply with a cease-and-desist order issued pursuant to this section, the executive director may bring a suit for injunction to prevent any further and continued violation of the order. In any such suit, the final proceedings of the executive director, based upon evidence in record, are prima facie evidence of the facts found therein.

Source: L. 2018: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 18-030), ch. 7, p. 52, § 2, effective October 1. L. 2022: (1) amended, (SB 22-162), ch. 469, p. 3362, § 34, effective August 10.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 12-6-105 as it existed prior to 2018.

Cross references: For the short title (the "Debbie Haskins 'Administrative Organization Act of 1968' Modernization Act") in SB 22-162, see section 1 of chapter 469, Session Laws of Colorado 2022.