35 ILCS 130/4: Distributor's license.

(a) No person may engage in business as a distributor of cigarettes in this State within the meaning of the first 2 definitions of distributor in Section 1 of this Act without first having obtained a license from the Department. Application for license shall be made to the Department, by electronic means, in a form prescribed by the Department. Each applicant for a license under this Section shall furnish to the Department in a form signed and verified by the applicant under penalty of perjury, in an electronic format established by the Department, the following:

(1) a statement that the applicant will fully comply with the Tobacco Products Manufacturers' Escrow Enforcement Act of 2003; and

(2) the following information:

(A) the name and address of the applicant;

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

(C) such other additional information as the Department may reasonably require by its rules.

The license fee payable to the Department for the initial and each renewal distributor's license shall be $250. The purpose of the initial and renewal license fee is to defray the cost, to the Department, of serializing cigarette tax stamps. Each applicant for license shall pay such fee to the Department at the time of submitting the application for license to the Department.

Through June 30, 2027, every applicant who is required to procure a distributor's license shall file with his application a joint and several bond. Such bond shall be executed to the Department of Revenue, with good and sufficient surety or sureties residing or licensed to do business within the State of Illinois, in the amount of $2,500, conditioned upon the true and faithful compliance by the licensee with all of the provisions of this Act. Such bond, or a reissue thereof, or a substitute therefor, shall be kept in effect during the entire period covered by the license. On and after July 1, 2027, applicants are no longer required to file a bond with their application. The Department shall discharge any surety and shall release and return any bond provided to it by a taxpayer under this Section within 90 days after July 1, 2027, provided that the taxpayer is not delinquent or deficient in the payment of tax liability.

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

(b) The following are ineligible to receive a distributor's license under this Section:

(1) a person who is not of good character and reputation in the community in which the person resides; the Department may consider prior conviction of a felony, but, except as provided in paragraph (2), the conviction shall not operate as an absolute bar to licensure;

(2) a person who has been convicted of a felony under any federal or State law, if the Department, after investigation and consideration of any mitigating factors and evidence of rehabilitation contained in the applicant's record, including those provided in Section 4i of this Act, and after a hearing, if requested by the applicant, determines that the 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 has delinquent reports under Section 25 of the Tobacco Products Manufacturers' Escrow Enforcement Act of 2003; or

(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 taxes that have been determined by law to be due and unpaid under this Act or any other tax Act administered by the Department, 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, the Cigarette Use Tax Act, the Tobacco Products Tax Act of 1995, or the Cigarette Machine Operator's Occupation Tax Act revoked within the past 2 years by the Department for misconduct relating to stolen or contraband cigarettes 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) manufactures cigarettes, whether in this State or out of this State, and who is neither (i) a participating manufacturer as defined in subsection II(jj) of the "Master Settlement Agreement" as defined in Sections 10 of the Tobacco Product Manufacturers' Escrow Act and the Tobacco Products Manufacturers' Escrow Enforcement Act of 2003; nor (ii) in full compliance with Tobacco Product Manufacturers' Escrow Act and the Tobacco Products Manufacturers' Escrow Enforcement Act of 2003;

(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 any cigarette in violation of 19 U.S.C. 1681a;

(E) 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

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

(c) The Department, upon receipt of an application and license fee, from a person who is eligible to receive a distributor's license under this Section, shall issue to such applicant a license. That license shall permit the applicant to engage in business as a distributor at the place shown in the application. All licenses issued by the Department under this Section 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 Section 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 distributor licensee acquires any vested interest or compensable property right in a license issued under this Section.

A licensed 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 30 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 30 days, the Department's decision shall become final without any further determination being made or notice given.