35 ILCS 135/4b: Secondary distributor's license.

(a) No person may engage in business as a secondary distributor of cigarettes in this State without first having obtained a license from the Department. A secondary distributor maintaining a place of business within this State, if required to procure a license as a secondary distributor under the Cigarette Tax Act, need not obtain an additional license or permit under this Section, but shall be deemed to be sufficiently licensed or registered by virtue of being licensed or registered under the Cigarette Tax Act.

Every secondary distributor maintaining a place of business in this State, if not required to procure a license under the Cigarette Tax Act, shall make application for a license, by electronic means, in a form prescribed by the Department. Such applicant 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 secondary 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 secondary distributor's license shall be $250. The applicant for license shall pay such fee to the Department at the time of submitting the application for license to the Department.

A separate application for license shall be made and a separate license fee paid, for each place of business at or from which the applicant proposes to act as a secondary distributor under this Section and for which the applicant is not required to procure a license as a secondary distributor under the Cigarette Tax Act.

(b) The following are ineligible to receive a secondary 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 in Section 4i of the Cigarette Tax Act, and a hearing, if requested by the applicant, 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, 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;

(5) a person who has delinquent reports under Section 25 of the Tobacco Products Manufacturers' Escrow Enforcement Act of 2003; or

(6) 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 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) 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 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 payment of the required license fee, from a person who is eligible to receive a secondary distributor's license under this Section, shall issue a license to the applicant. Such license shall permit the applicant to engage in business as a secondary distributor at or from 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 at the place of business for which it is issued.

No secondary distributor licensee acquires any vested interest or compensable property right in a license issued under this Section.

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 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.