(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2028)

1. (a) The Department may investigate the actions of any applicant or of any person holding or claiming to hold a license under this Act.

2. (b) The Department shall, before disciplining an applicant or licensee, at least 30 days prior to the date set for the hearing:

   1. (i) notify, in writing, the applicant or licensee of the charges made and the time and place for the hearing on the charges;
   2. (ii) direct the applicant or licensee to file a written answer to the charges under oath within 20 days after the service of the notice; and
   3. (iii) inform the applicant or licensee that failure to file an answer will result in a default being entered against the applicant or licensee.
3. (c) Written or electronic notice, and any notice in the subsequent proceeding, may be served by personal delivery, by email, or by mail to the applicant or licensee at the applicant's or licensee's address of record or email address of record.

4. (d) At the time and place fixed in the notice, the Department shall proceed to hear the charges and the parties or the parties' counsel shall be accorded ample opportunity to present any statements, testimony, evidence and argument as may be pertinent to the charges or to the parties' defense. The Board may continue the hearing from time to time.

   If the person, after receiving the notice, fails to file an answer, the person's license may, in the discretion of the Secretary, having first received the recommendation of the Board, be suspended, revoked, or placed on probationary status, or be subject to whatever disciplinary action the Secretary considers proper, including limiting the scope, nature, or extent of the person's practice or the imposition of a fine, without hearing, if the act or acts charged constitute sufficient grounds for that action under this Act.

(Source: P.A. 102-953, eff. 5-27-22.)