Before any person shall engage in business as a distributor of gasoline in this state, he shall first make application to the commission, upon forms prescribed by the commission, for a permit to engage in said business.

If said application is approved by the commission, the applicant shall enter into a good and sufficient surety bond, written by a company qualified to write such bonds in this state. The bond shall be made payable to the State of Mississippi in a sum of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00), the amount to be determined by the commission; or, in lieu thereof, the applicant may deposit with the commission a cash bond in the amount so determined. A personal bond in the amount so determined shall also be acceptable in lieu of a surety bond if the same is adequately secured by the pledge or assignment of a pledgeable or assignable bond or bonds of the State of Mississippi or the United States Government. Such bond or bonds shall be in an amount not to exceed Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00), and not to exceed the gasoline tax estimated to become due by the said distributor of gasoline for any ninety-day period. The bond herein required shall be increased within the limits hereinabove set forth from time to time if deemed insufficient by the commission, giving to the distributor of gasoline fifteen (15) days’ notice, in writing, to increase said bond, said notice to state the amount of increase demanded.

The condition of said bond shall be that the distributor of gasoline shall fully comply with all laws pertaining to distributors of gasoline and pertaining to the transportation of gasoline as regulated by this article, and that he shall pay the gasoline tax and the penalties provided. Provided, however, any person who, prior to January 1, 1970, has furnished bond to meet the requirements of any petroleum tax law administered by the commission, shall not be required to furnish an additional bond provided his existing bond is adequate, but such person shall be subject to all the other provisions of this article regulating and governing distributors of gasoline.

Provided further, that any person who purchases all of his gasoline on a tax-paid basis and from a qualified bonded distributor of gasoline for sale or distribution to retailers for resale to consumers shall not be required to make bond for said gasoline purchased, but shall be subject to all the other provisions of this article regulating and governing distributors of gasoline.