2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 46 - Agriculture › Chapter 41 - Dealers And Handlers Of Agricultural Products › Section 46-41-60. Bond or equivalent security required.

(A) Before any license shall be issued the applicant shall make and deliver to the commissioner a surety bond or equivalent security in an amount of either twenty-five thousand, fifty thousand, or one hundred thousand dollars as determined by the method set forth below, 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. The amount of the bond required is determined based upon ten percent of the applicant's annual business. If ten percent of annual business is twenty-five thousand dollars or less, the applicant must obtain a twenty-five thousand dollar bond. If ten percent of annual business is fifty thousand dollars or less, a fifty thousand dollar bond is required. If ten percent of annual business is more than fifty thousand dollars, a one hundred thousand dollar bond is required. The 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.
(B) The amount of the bond or equivalent security shall, upon the order of the commissioner at any time, be increased, if in his discretion the commissioner finds that an increase is warranted by the volume of agricultural product being handled by the principal or maker of the bond or equivalent security. In the same manner, the amount of the 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 contained in this section shall apply to any bond or equivalent security, regardless of the anniversary date of its issuance, expiration, or renewal.
(C) 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; 2022 Act No. 181 (S.1117), Section 2, eff May 16, 2022.
Editor's Note
2022 Act No. 181, Section 4, provides as follows:
"SECTION 4. (A) The Insurance Reserve Fund of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority is authorized to lend an amount up to four million dollars on a one-time basis to the department for the use of the Grain and Cotton Producers Guaranty Fund herein established to pay claims approved by the department if the fund, through its assessments, is below four million dollars and has insufficient monies to pay the claims. The loan is to be repaid from monies from the guaranty fund within five years of the date of the loan in five annual installments with interest at the rate provided in Section 34-31-20(A). In the event the department fails to make any loan payment to the Insurance Reserve Fund within the prescribed time, the payment must be paid from the state general fund. The participants in the loan shall execute a document approved by the State Treasurer severally guaranteeing the loan. The Insurance Reserve Fund shall prepare a written loan agreement which must be executed by the department prior to entering into the loan authorized by this section.
"(B) Any federal funds or other funds not derived from assessments received by the department to reimburse claims or losses under this chapter must be paid into the fund and used for loan payments or loan principal reduction to the extent any monies are due under subsection (A) to the Insurance Reserve Fund or the state general fund. Each commodity producer severally guaranteeing this loan shall have his pro rata share of the debt obligation reduced accordingly based on the amount of the federal or other payment. If no monies are due to the Insurance Reserve Fund or to the state general fund under subsection (A), such funds shall be used for claim payments."
Effect of Amendment
2022 Act No. 181, Section 2, rewrote the section.