(1) Before any license shall be issued the applicant shall make and deliver to the commissioner a surety bond or equivalent security in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars or an amount equal to the maximum amount of business done or estimated to be done in any month by the applicant, whichever is less, executed by a surety corporation authorized to transact business in the State or provided by equivalent security approved by the commissioner with the advice of the State Treasurer. Such bond or equivalent security shall be upon a form prescribed or approved by the commissioner and shall be conditioned to secure the faithful accounting for any payment to producers, their agents or representatives, of the proceeds of all agricultural products handled or sold by such dealer.
(2) The amount of such bond or equivalent security shall, upon the order of the commissioner at any time, be increased, if in his discretion the commissioner finds such increase to be warranted by the volume of agricultural product being handled by the principal or maker of such bond or equivalent security. In the same manner, the amount of such bond or equivalent security may be decreased when a decrease in volume of products handled warrants such decrease in bond or equivalent security. The provisions shall apply to any bond or equivalent security, regardless of the anniversary date of its issuance, expiration, or renewal.
(3) In order to effectuate the purposes of this section, the commissioner or his agents may require from any licensee verified statements of the volume of his business, and failure to furnish such statement or make and deliver a new or additional bond or equivalent security shall be cause for suspension of license. If, at a hearing after reasonable notice, the commissioner finds such failure to be wilful, the license may be revoked.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 3-756; 1967 (55) 349; 1981 Act No. 156 Section 20; 1982 Act No. 469 Section 5; 1992 Act No. 393, Section 1, eff June 1, 1992.