(a) Any person desiring to be licensed as a livestock dealer shall make application to the Commissioner. Such application shall contain the address, both business and personal, of the applicant. No financial information shall be required from the applicant.
Whenever an applicant has complied with this Article, the Commissioner shall issue to such applicant a license which shall entitle the licensee to engage in the business of livestock dealer for a period of one year, unless such license is sooner suspended, or revoked in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
The license may be renewed annually by written request to the Commissioner on a form prepared by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which form shall require only the name and current address of the licensee. No renewal fee shall be charged.
(b) The Commissioner may suspend for a period not to exceed 120 days the license of any livestock dealer whom the Commissioner finds has violated G.S. 106-418.10(2). For a second violation of G.S. 106-418.10(2) within a period of two years, the Commissioner may revoke a dealer's license.
(c) The Commissioner may refuse to issue a license to any person who has (i) within five years of his application therefor, been finally adjudicated as having on two or more occasions violated the provisions of G.S. 106-418.10(1) or (ii) on three or more occasions within five years of his application therefor been finally adjudicated as violating G.S. 106-418.10(2).
(d) All proceedings relative to the suspension, revocation, or refusal of a license shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 150B of the General Statutes. (1973, c. 196; c. 1331, s. 3; 1975, c. 19, s. 34; 1987, c. 827, s. 1; 1997-261, s. 109.)