HB-4864, As Passed House, September 5, 2007
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 4864
A bill to amend 1937 PA 284, entitled
"An act to prevent the spread of infectious and contagious
diseases of livestock; to require persons, associations,
partnerships and corporations engaged in the buying, receiving,
selling, transporting, exchanging, negotiating, or soliciting
sale, resale, exchange or transportation of livestock to be
licensed and bonded by the department of agriculture; to keep a
producers' proceeds account; to provide for the refusal,
suspension or revocation of such licenses; to provide for
weighmasters; to provide for the inspection and disinfection of
yards, premises and vehicles; and to provide penalties for the
violation of this act,"
by amending section 3 (MCL 287.123), as amended by 2004 PA 279.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 3. (1) A person desiring to act as a dealer, broker, or
2 agent shall file an application with the department for a license
3 to engage in the business of dealer, broker, or agent. The
4 application shall state the nature of the business, the mailing
1 address of the applicant, and the mailing address at or from
2 which the business is to be conducted. If the applicant desires
3 to operate a livestock yard where livestock is kept and sold at
4 public or private sale, the application shall so state. The
5 application may state additional information as requested by the
6 director.
7 (2) Subject to subsection (5) and beginning October 1, 2003
8 through September 30, 2007 (7)
and until September 30, 2012, the
9 department shall charge and collect the following fees for
10 initial and renewal license applications: , which shall be
11 deposited into the general fund:
12 (a) Class I (livestock auction).............. $ 400.00.
13 (b) Class II (collection point/buying
14 station).......................................... $ 250.00.
15 (c) Class III (horse auction)................ $ 150.00.
16 (d) Class IV (dealer/broker/agent)........... $ 50.00.
17 (3) Subject to subsection (5) and through September 30, 2003
18 or (7) and after September 30, 2007 2012,
the only fee the
19 department shall charge and collect for the issuance and renewal
20 of licenses under this section is a fee of $5.00 for a dealer,
21 broker, or agent license.
22 (4) The department shall deposit administrative and
23 noncriminal fines received under this act and license or other
24 administrative fees received under this section into the
25 agriculture licensing and inspection fees fund created in section
26 9 of the insect pest and plant disease act, 1931 PA 189, MCL
1 286.209, to be used, pursuant to appropriation, by the director
2 in administering and carrying out those duties required by law
3 under this act.
4 (5) (4) A
licensee who buys or sells livestock by weight
5 shall employ a registered weighmaster to do all the weighing. The
6 duties, qualifications, and requirements for registration of
7 weighmasters shall be established by the director by promulgation
8 of a rule under section 9.
9 (6) (5) Beginning
the effective date of the amendatory act
10 that added this subsection July
23, 2004, the department shall
11 issue an initial or renewal dealer, broker, agent, livestock
12 auction, collecting point/buying station, and horse auction
13 license not later than 90 days after the applicant files a
14 completed application. Receipt of the application is considered
15 the date the application is received by any agency or department
16 of the state of Michigan. If the application is considered
17 incomplete by the department, the department shall notify the
18 applicant in writing, or make the information electronically
19 available, within 30 days after receipt of the incomplete
20 application, describing the deficiency and requesting the
21 additional information. The 90-day period is tolled upon
22 notification by the department of a deficiency until the date the
23 requested information is received by the department. The
24 determination of the completeness of an application does not
25 operate as an approval of the application for the license and
26 does not confer eligibility of an applicant determined otherwise
27 ineligible for issuance of a license.
1 (7) (6) If
the department fails to issue or deny a license
2 within the time required by this section, the department shall
3 return the license fee and shall reduce the license fee for the
4 applicant's next renewal application, if any, by 15%. The failure
5 to issue a license within the time required under this subsection
6 does not allow the department to otherwise delay the processing
7 of the application, and that application, upon completion, shall
8 be placed in sequence with other completed applications received
9 at that same time. The department shall not discriminate against
10 an applicant in the processing of the application based upon the
11 fact that the license fee was refunded or discounted under this
12 subsection.
13 (8) (7) Beginning
October 1, 2005, the director shall submit
14 a report by December 1 of each year to the standing committees
15 and appropriations subcommittees of the senate and house of
16 representatives concerned with agriculture issues. The director
17 shall include all of the following information in the report
18 concerning the preceding fiscal year:
19 (a) The number of initial and renewal applications the
20 department received and completed within the 90-day time period
21 described in subsection (5) (6).
22 (b) The number of applications denied.
23 (c) The number of applicants not issued a license within the
24 90-day time period and the amount of money returned to licensees
25 and registrants under subsection (6) (7).
26 (9) (8) The
application for that license and bond shall be
27 submitted to the director on or before October 1 of each year.
1 Each license issued under this section shall be for a period of 1
2 year commencing October 1 and ending the following September 30.
3 (10) (9) Each
dealer, broker, or agent operating or
4 conducting a livestock auction shall file with his or her
5 application for a license a surety bond effective during the
6 period for which the license is issued. The surety bond shall be
7 issued by a surety company registered in this state to indemnify
8 persons from whom livestock is purchased or for whom livestock is
9 sold or other security and in such amounts, form, and sufficiency
10 as approved by the director. The amount of the bond shall be an
11 amount equal to the amount of gross dollar volume of livestock
12 business conducted during the average week of the previous
13 licensing year by the applicant, but in no case less than
14 $1,500.00. If the average gross weekly livestock business
15 conducted by the applicant during the previous licensing year was
16 greater than $25,000.00, the bond shall be increased above
17 $25,000.00, at the rate of $1,000.00 for each $5,000.00 or part
18 thereof above $25,000.00 on the average gross dollar-volume of
19 weekly livestock business conducted during the previous year. A
20 licensee who owns or operates more than 1 livestock yard or
21 livestock auction may file 1 bond in an amount determined by the
22 formula described in this subsection. Any dealer, broker, or
23 agent operating or conducting a livestock yard or livestock
24 auction who has filed a surety bond for the livestock yard or
25 livestock auction and indemnifies persons from whom livestock is
26 purchased or for whom livestock is sold in accordance with the
27 terms of any federal act is exempt from the bonding requirements
1 of this subsection provided the bond is equivalent in amount to
2 that which would be required by this act. The bond shall be for a
3 dealer or broker and his or her agents in which the department is
4 the obligee for the benefit and purpose of protecting all persons
5 selling or consigning livestock to the licensed dealer, broker,
6 or agent against the licensed dealer's, broker's, or agent's
7 failure to pay amounts due on livestock purchased by or consigned
8 to them.
9 (11) (10) Each
licensee shall keep records and shall
10 furnish, upon request, information concerning his or her
11 purchases and sales as may be required by the director for the
12 purpose of establishing the amount of bond required under
13 subsection (9) (10). The director, in fixing the amount of the
14 bond, shall take into consideration the dollar volume of
15 livestock business and other information furnished by the dealer,
16 broker, or his or her agent. If a dealer, broker, or agent did
17 not operate a livestock auction the previous licensing year, the
18 bond shall be for an amount as shall be established by the
19 director after consideration of all information available on the
20 probable weekly gross dollar volume of business to be conducted
21 by the dealer, broker, or agent during the licensing year.
22 (12) (11) If
during any licensing year the bond filed by any
23 licensee becomes less than required by this act because of an
24 increase in gross dollar volume of livestock sales, the director
25 may issue an order requiring the licensee to file an additional
26 bond to cover the increase in gross dollar volume of livestock
27 sales. Failure to comply with the orders of the director is
1 grounds for suspension or revocation of license. A bond shall be
2 conditioned upon the faithful performance of the licensee's
3 duties as a dealer or broker and on the provisions of law
4 relating to the purchase of livestock by the dealer or broker and
5 for the payment by the dealer or broker of all livestock
6 purchased by or consigned to the dealer or broker as a dealer or
7 broker in livestock.
8 (13) (12) A
license issued under this section allows the
9 holder to conduct the business of dealer or broker at or from the
10 place named in the application. A legal entity engaged in the
11 business of transporting livestock or negotiating or soliciting
12 the transportation or transfer of livestock that is not engaged
13 in the buying, selling, reselling, exchanging, negotiating, or
14 soliciting the sale, resale, or exchange of livestock must obtain
15 a license under this section but is not required to comply with
16 bonding provisions of this section.
17 (14) (13) A
dealer, broker, or agent shall keep adequate
18 records of the producers' proceeds account in compliance with
19 section 3a and of all sales and purchases for a period of 2 5
20 years in the manner required by the director. The records shall
21 be open to reasonable inspection by the department.
22 (15) (14) A
dealer, broker, or agent shall notify the
23 director of a change of address within 5 days after that change.
24 Any change in ownership of any livestock auction or market shall
25 be reported to the director within 5 days by the licensee. Each
26 dealer or broker shall file with the director on January 1 of
27 each year a sworn statement of average weekly sales and a
1 statement showing the number and kinds of livestock purchased and
2 sold during the previous year.
3 (16) (15) As
used in this section, "completed application"
4 means an application complete on its face and submitted with any
5 applicable licensing fees as well as any other information,
6 records, approval, security, or similar item required by law or
7 rule from a local unit of government, a federal agency, or a
8 private entity but not from another department or agency of the
9 state of Michigan.
10 Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect
11 unless House Bill No. 4862 of the 94th Legislature is enacted
12 into law.