(35 ILCS 130/4c)

Sec. 4c. Secondary distributor's license. No person may engage in business as a secondary distributor of cigarettes in this State without first having obtained a license therefor from the Department. Application for license shall be made to the Department on a form as furnished and prescribed by the Department. Each applicant for a license under this Section shall furnish the following information to the Department on a form signed and verified by the applicant under penalty of perjury:

(1) the name and address of the applicant;

(2) the address of the location at which the applicant proposes to engage in business as a secondary distributor of cigarettes in this State; and

(3) such other additional information as the Department may reasonably require.

The annual license fee payable to the Department for each secondary distributor's license shall be $250. Each applicant for a license shall pay such fee to the Department at the time of submitting an application for license to the Department.

A separate application for license shall be made and separate annual license fee paid for each place of business at which a person who is required to procure a secondary distributor's license under this Section proposes to engage in business as a secondary distributor in Illinois under this Act.

The following are ineligible to receive a secondary distributor's license under this Act:

(1) a person who is not of good character and reputation in the community in which he resides; the Department may consider past conviction of a felony but the conviction shall not operate as an absolute bar to receiving a license;

(2) a person who has been convicted of a felony under any federal or State law, if the Department, after investigation and a hearing and consideration of the mitigating factors provided in subsection (b) of Section 4i of this Act, determines that such person has not been sufficiently rehabilitated to warrant the public trust and the conviction will impair the ability of the person to engage in the position for which a license is sought;

(3) a corporation, if any officer, manager, or director thereof, or any stockholder or stockholders owning in the aggregate more than 5% of the stock of such corporation, would not be eligible to receive a license under this Act for any reason;

(4) a person who manufactures cigarettes, whether in this State or out of this State;

(5) a person, or any person who owns more than 15% of the ownership interests in a person or a related party who:

(A) owes, at the time of application, any delinquent cigarette taxes that have been determined by law to be due and unpaid, unless the license applicant has entered into an agreement approved by the Department to pay the amount due;

(B) had a license under this Act revoked within the past two years by the Department or has been convicted of a State or federal crime, punishable by imprisonment of one year or more, relating to stolen or contraband cigarettes;

(C) has been found by the Department, after notice and a hearing, to have imported or caused to be imported into the United States for sale or distribution any cigarette in violation of 19 U.S.C. 1681a;

(D) has been found by the Department, after notice and a hearing, to have imported or caused to be imported into the United States for sale or distribution or manufactured for sale or distribution in the United States any cigarette that does not fully comply with the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (15 U.S.C. 1331, et seq.); or

(E) has been found by the Department, after notice and a hearing, to have made a material false statement in the application or has failed to produce records required to be maintained by this Act.

The Department, upon receipt of an application and license fee from a person who is eligible to receive a secondary distributor's license under this Act, shall issue to such applicant a license in such form as prescribed by the Department. The license shall permit the applicant to which it is issued to engage in business as a secondary distributor at the place shown in his application. All licenses issued by the Department under this Act shall be valid for a period not to exceed one year after issuance unless sooner revoked, canceled, or suspended as provided in this Act. No license issued under this Act is transferable or assignable. Such license shall be conspicuously displayed in the place of business conducted by the licensee in Illinois under such license. No secondary distributor licensee acquires any vested interest or compensable property right in a license issued under this Act.

A licensed secondary distributor shall notify the Department of any change in the information contained on the application form, including any change in ownership, and shall do so within 30 days after any such change.

Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Department under this Section may, within 20 days after notice of the decision, protest and request a hearing. Upon receiving a request for a hearing, the Department shall give notice to the person requesting the hearing of the time and place fixed for the hearing and shall hold a hearing in conformity with the provisions of this Act and then issue its final administrative decision in the matter to that person. In the absence of a protest and request for a hearing within 20 days, the Department's decision shall become final without any further determination being made or notice given.

(Source: P.A. 100-286, eff. 1-1-18.)