2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 46 - Agriculture › Chapter 41 - Dealers And Handlers Of Agricultural Products › Section 46-41-240. Agricultural commodity dealer shall remit and file report of assessments; penalty; hearing.

(A) The agricultural commodity dealer shall remit assessments and file with the department a report of the assessments on agricultural commodities that he received by the first day of January, April, July, and October following any calendar quarter in which the agricultural commodity dealer has received quantities of grain or cotton subject to assessments totaling fifty dollars or more. If the agricultural commodity dealer has received quantities of grain or cotton subject to assessments totaling less than fifty dollars in any calendar quarter, the assessments may be reported and remitted with the following calendar quarter's return. All assessments shall be remitted at least once every six months.
(B) In case any person subject to this section fails to make a report and remittance when required, the department shall determine the amount of the assessment according to its best judgment and information and that amount shall be prima facie correct. The person who failed to make the report shall, within ten days after notice of the amount of the assessment is mailed to him, pay the assessment, together with a penalty of ten percent, or dispute the assessment and request a hearing to determine its amount and the penalty to be imposed. No payment shall be made until the department enters its order determining the amount of the payment. However, the payment shall be made within ten days' notice of the order. On failure to remit payment within ten days of the receipt of notice of the order, the department may suspend the dealer's license under the provisions of Section 46-41-130.
HISTORY: 1981 Act No. 156 Section 28; 2022 Act No. 181 (S.1117), Section 1, 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 1, rewrote the section.