SB 1111 - Under current law, the financial statements required to accompany an application for a grain dealer license must be audited or reviewed by a certified public accountant. This act retains this requirement for Class I grain dealer licenses but modifies the requirement for all other license classes so that, instead, the financial statement must be prepared by a qualified accountant. Currently, the surety bond amount required of a licensed grain dealer shall be established by the director of the Department of Agriculture and shall not be less than $20,000 nor more than $300,000. The act removes the provision requiring the director to establish the bond amount and raises the minimum to $50,000 and the maximum to $500,000.
The formula for determining the surety bond amount currently requires the amount not to be less than 1%, nor greater than 5%, of the aggregate dollar amount paid for certain grain the previous fiscal year. The act increases the minimum to 2% and removes the cap on the maximum.
The act modifies the single bond amount requirements for holders of multiple grain dealer licenses by raising the minimum amount from $20,000 to $50,000 and raising the maximum amount from $300,000 to $500,000.
Under current law, a grain dealer who requests to be exempt from the minimum bonding requirements must submit a financial statement. The act adds a requirement that the financial statement be audited by a certified public accountant.
The fee for filing an application for a grain dealer license is increased from $25 to $50, and the fee for issuing a license is increased from $40 to $100. The allowable charge per hour of Department of Agriculture staff time to complete a special or requested inspection of a grain dealer is increased from $20 to $40.
The act allows the director of the Department of Agriculture to establish guidelines for the issuance of electronic warehouse receipts and approve such service providers.
The financial statement required to accompany an application for a public grain warehouse license currently must be audited or reviewed by a certified public accountant. This act modifies this provision to instead require that the financial statement be prepared by a qualified accountant.
The application fee for a public grain warehouse license is increased from $50 to $100.
The act increases from one to two, the number of complete examinations the Department of Agriculture is required to make at each licensed public grain warehouse per year. The fee for an examination is increased from $50 to $100. The act provides for an exception to one of the required examinations per year for licensees whose financial statement for the license application was reviewed or audited by a certified public accountant. The allowable charge per hour of Department of Agriculture staff time to complete a special or requested inspection of a public grain warehouse is increased from $20 to $40.
The act removes the automatic public warehouse license suspension and revocation provisions for failure to show evidence of new insurance coverage within certain timeframes of receipt by the director of the Department of Agriculture of notification of insurance cancellation.
The act repeals section 276.446, RSMo, regarding bond requirements for grain dealers whose total grain purchases within Missouri and certain other states do not exceed $400,000 per fiscal year.
ERIKA JAQUES