(a) Any private career school operating without a certificate of authorization required under § 10a-22b or operating an additional classroom site or branch school in violation of § 10a-22g shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars for each day of unauthorized operation, to be paid into the private career student protection account, except that, any fine assessed on and after the effective date of the regulations adopted pursuant to § 10a-22k, shall be in the amount specified in such regulations.

(b) The executive director, or the executive director’s designee, may conduct an investigation and, through the Attorney General, maintain an action in the name of the state against any person to restrain or prevent the establishment or operation of an institution that does not have a certificate of authorization.