(A) Except as otherwise provided in this section, concurrently with the filing of an application for a license under this chapter, the department shall require the applicant to file with the department a surety bond or cash deposit:

(1) in an amount determined by the director of not less than two thousand dollars or not more than a three-month user fee liability for the applicant as estimated by the department;

(2) conditioned upon the keeping of records and the making of full and complete reports and payments as required by this chapter.

(B) Suppliers and bonded importers shall post a bond of not less than two million dollars, except that with respect to a person registered under the Internal Revenue Section 4101 as a taxable fuel registrant, the bond may be reduced to a one million dollar minimum. An applicant alternatively may show proof of financial responsibility in lieu of posting of bond. Proof of five million dollars net worth constitutes evidence of financial responsibility in the absence of circumstances indicating the department is otherwise at risk with respect to collection of its user fees from the applicant.

(C) If the applicant files a bond, the bond must:

(1) be with a surety company approved by the department which may be an affiliate in the business of assuring the obligations;

(2) name the applicant as the principal and the State as the obliged;

(3) be on forms prescribed by the department.

(D) Fuel vendors defined in Section 12-28-1135, other than persons required to be licensed under provisions other than in those sections, and miscellaneous fuel user fee licensees defined in Section 12-28-1139, are exempt from the bonding requirements of this section.

HISTORY: 1995 Act No. 136, Section 2; 1996 Act No. 461, Section 4O.