Georgia § 10-1-791 - Consumer fees to implement provisions of article; enforcement.

§ 10-1-791. Consumer fees to implement provisions of article; enforcement.

A fee of $3.00 shall be collected by the new motor vehicle dealer from the consumer at completion of a sale or execution of a lease of each new motor vehicle. The fee shall be forwarded quarterly to the Department of Law for deposit in the new motor vehicle arbitration account created in the state treasury. The payments are due and payable the first day of the month in each quarter for the previous quarter's collection and shall be mailed by the new motor vehicle dealer not later than the twentieth day of such month. The first day of the month in each quarter is July 1, October 1, January 1, and April 1 for each year. Consumer fees in the account shall be used for the purposes of this article. Funds in excess of the appropriated amount remaining in the new motor vehicle arbitration account at the end of each fiscal year shall be transferred to the general treasury. The new motor vehicle dealer shall retain $1.00 of each fee collected to cover administrative costs. The Attorney General shall have the power to enforce the provisions of this Code section. The Attorney General's enforcement power shall include: The authority to investigate alleged violations through use of all investigative powers available under Part 2 of Article 15 of this chapter, the "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975"; and The authority to initiate proceedings, pursuant to Code Section 10-1-397 , in the event of a violation of this Code section. Such proceedings include, without limitation, issuance of a cease and desist order, a civil penalty order imposing a civil penalty up to a maximum of $2,000.00 for each violation, and proceedings to seek additional relief in any superior court of competent jurisdiction. The provisions of Code Sections 10-1-398 , 10-1-398.1 , 10-1-402 , and 10-1-405 shall apply to proceedings initiated by the Attorney General under this Code section. (Code 1981, § 10-1-791 , enacted by Ga. L. 2008, p. 746, § 1/HB 470; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1088, § 8/SB 148; Ga. L. 2016, p. 518, § 1/HB 871; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 10/HB 323.) The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, in subsection (b), in the introductory language, substituted "Attorney General" for "administrator appointed pursuant to subsection (g) of Code Section 10-1-395" and substituted "Attorney General's" for "administrator's" and substituted "Attorney General" for "administrator" in the last sentence of paragraph (b)(2). The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, substituted "Department of Law" for "Office of Planning and Budget" in the second sentence of subsection (a). The 2017 amendment, effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "the 'Fair Business Practices Act of 1975';" for "the 'Fair Business Practices Act';" near the end of paragraph (b)(1).