(205 ILCS 405/4.1) (from Ch. 17, par. 4809)

Sec. 4.1. Application; investigation; community need.

(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that community currency exchanges provide important and vital services to Illinois citizens, that the number of community currency exchanges should be limited in accordance with the needs of the communities they are to serve, and that it is in the public interest to promote and foster the community currency exchange business and to insure the financial stability thereof.

(b) Upon receipt of an application for a license for a community currency exchange, the Secretary shall cause an investigation to determine:

(1) the need of the community for the establishment of a community currency exchange at the location specified in the application; and

(2) the effect that granting the license will have on the financial stability of other community currency exchanges that may be serving the community in which the business of the applicant is proposed to be conducted.

(c) "Community", as used in this Act, means a locality where there may or can be available to the people thereof the services of a community currency exchange reasonably accessible to them.

(d) If the issuance of a license to engage in the community currency exchange business at the location specified will not promote the needs and the convenience and advantage of the community in which the business of the applicant is proposed to be conducted, then the application shall be denied.

(e) As a part of the investigation, the Secretary shall, within 15 business days after receipt of an application, notify in writing all currency exchanges located within a one-half mile radius of the proposed new currency exchange in any municipality with a population of 500,000 or more or located within a one-mile radius of the proposed new currency exchange outside a municipality with a population of 500,000 or more of the application and the proposed location. Within 15 business days after the notice, any currency exchange as described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this Section may notify the Secretary it intends to protest the application. If the currency exchange intends to protest the application, then the currency exchange shall, within 30 days after notifying the Secretary, provide the Secretary with any information requested to substantiate that granting the license would have a material and negative effect upon the financial stability of the existing currency exchange or would not promote the needs and the convenience and advantage of the community. Once the investigation is completed, the Secretary shall, within 15 business days thereafter, notify any currency exchange as described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this Section of the determination to approve or deny the application. The determination shall sufficiently detail the facts that led to the determination.

(Source: P.A. 99-445, eff. 1-1-16.)