Sen. Don Harmon

Filed: 5/14/2013

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2780

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2780 on page 1 by
3inserting immediately below line 3 the following:
 
4    "Section 3. The Currency Exchange Act is amended by
5changing Sections 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 18 as follows:
 
6    (205 ILCS 405/3)  (from Ch. 17, par. 4804)
7    Sec. 3. Powers of community currency exchanges. No
8community or ambulatory currency exchange shall be permitted to
9accept money or evidences of money as a deposit to be returned
10to the depositor or upon the depositor's order. No community or
11ambulatory currency exchange shall be permitted to act as
12bailee or agent for persons, firms, partnerships, limited
13liability companies, associations or corporations to hold
14money or evidences thereof or the proceeds therefrom for the
15use and benefit of the owners thereof, and deliver such money
16or proceeds of evidence of money upon request and direction of

 

 

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1such owner or owners. Nothing in this Act shall prevent a
2currency exchange from accepting any check without regard to
3the date imprinted on the check as long as the check is
4immediately cashed, deposited, and processed in the ordinary
5course of business. A community or ambulatory currency exchange
6is permitted to engage in, and charge a fee for, the following
7activities, either directly or as a third-party agent: (i)
8cashing of checks, drafts, money orders, or any other evidences
9of money acceptable to the currency exchange, (ii) selling or
10issuing money orders, (iii) obtaining reports, certificates,
11governmental permits, licenses, and vital statistics and the
12preparation of necessary applications to obtain the same, (iv)
13the sale and distribution of bond cards, (v) obtaining,
14distributing, providing, or selling: State vehicle
15registration renewals, title transfers and tax remittance
16forms, city vehicle licenses, and other governmental services,
17(vi) photocopying and sending and receiving facsimile
18transmissions, (vii) notary service either by the proprietor of
19the currency exchange or any currency exchange employee,
20authorized by the State to act as a notary public, (viii)
21issuance of travelers checks obtained by the currency exchange
22from a banking institution under a trust receipt, (ix)
23accepting for payment utility and other companies' bills, (x)
24issuance and acceptance of any third-party debit, credit, or
25stored value card and loading or unloading, (xi) on-premises
26automated cash dispensing machines, (xii) sale of rolled coin

 

 

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1and paper money, (xiii) exchange of foreign currency through a
2third-party, (xiv) sale of cards, passes, or tokens for public
3transit, (xv) providing mail box service, (xvi) preparation and
4transmittal of consumer requests and applications for the sale
5of prepaid wireless phones, phone cards, and other pre-paid
6telecommunication services, (xvii) on-premises public
7telephone, (xviii) sale of U.S. postage, (xix) money
8transmission through a licensed third-party money transmitter,
9(xx) sale of candy, gum, other packaged foods, soft drinks, and
10other products and services by means of on-premises vending
11machines, and (xxi) preparation and transmittal of consumer
12requests and applications for the delivery, supply, or service
13of any utility product, service, or company lawfully offered in
14the State of Illinois, (xxii) advertising upon and about the
15premises and distribution to consumers of advertising and other
16materials of any legal product or service that is not
17misleading to the public, and (xxiii) other products and
18services as may be approved by the Secretary. Any community or
19ambulatory currency exchange may enter into agreements with any
20utility and other companies to act as the companies' agent for
21the acceptance of payment of utility and other companies' bills
22without charge to the customer and, acting under such
23agreement, may receipt for payments in the names of the utility
24and other companies. Any community or ambulatory currency
25exchange may also receive payment of utility and other
26companies' bills for remittance to companies with which it has

 

 

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1no such agency agreement and may charge a fee for such service
2but may not, in such cases, issue a receipt for such payment in
3the names of the utility and other companies. However, funds
4received by currency exchanges for remittance to utility and
5other companies with which the currency exchange has no agency
6agreement shall be forwarded to the appropriate utility and
7other companies by the currency exchange before the end of the
8next business day.
9    For the purpose of this Section, "utility and other
10companies" means any utility company and other company with
11which the currency exchange may or may not have a contractual
12agreement and for which the currency exchange accepts payments
13from consumers for remittance to the utility or other company
14for the payment of bills.
15(Source: P.A. 97-315, eff. 1-1-12.)
 
16    (205 ILCS 405/5)  (from Ch. 17, par. 4812)
17    Sec. 5. Bond; condition; amount.
18    (a) Before any license shall be issued to a community
19currency exchange the applicant shall file annually with and
20have approved by the Secretary a surety bond, issued by a
21bonding company authorized to do business in this State in the
22principal sum of $25,000. Such bond shall run to the Secretary
23and shall be for the benefit of any creditors of such currency
24exchange for any liability incurred by the currency exchange on
25any money orders, including any fees and penalties incurred by

 

 

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1the remitter should the money order be returned unpaid, issued
2or sold by the currency exchange in the ordinary course of its
3business and for any liability incurred by the currency
4exchange for any sum or sums due to any payee or endorsee of
5any check, draft or money order left with the currency exchange
6in the ordinary course of its business for collection, and for
7any liability to the public incurred by the currency exchange
8in the ordinary course of its business in connection with the
9rendering of any of the services referred to in Section 3 of
10this Act.
11    To protect the public and allow for the effective
12underwriting of bonds, the surety bond shall not cover money
13orders issued and other liabilities incurred by a currency
14exchange for its own account or that of its controlling
15persons, including money orders issued or liabilities incurred
16by the currency exchange to obtain cash for its own operations,
17to pay for the currency exchange's own bills or liabilities or
18that of its controlling persons, or to obtain things of value
19for the currency exchange or its controlling persons,
20regardless of whether such things of value are used in the
21currency exchange's operations or sold by the currency
22exchange.
23    From time to time the Secretary may determine the amount of
24liabilities as described herein and shall require the licensee
25to file a bond in an additional sum if the same is determined
26to be necessary in accordance with the requirements of this

 

 

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1Section. In no case shall the bond be less than the initial
2$25,000, nor more than the outstanding liabilities.
3    (b) In lieu of the surety bond requirements of subsection
4(a), a community currency exchange licensee may submit evidence
5satisfactory to the Secretary that the community currency
6exchange licensee is covered by a blanket bond that covers
7multiple licensees who are members of a statewide association
8of community currency exchanges. Such a blanket bond must be
9issued by a bonding company authorized to do business in this
10State and in a principal aggregate sum of not less than
11$3,000,000 as of May 1, 2012, and not less than $4,000,000 as
12of May 1, 2014.
13    (c) An ambulatory currency exchange may sell or issue money
14orders at any location with regard to which it is issued a
15license pursuant to this Act, including existing licensed
16locations, without the necessity of a further application or
17hearing and without regard to any exceptions contained in
18existing licenses, upon the filing with the Secretary of a
19surety bond approved by the Secretary and issued by a bonding
20company or insurance company authorized to do business in
21Illinois, in the principal sum of $100,000. Such bond may be a
22blanket bond covering all locations at which the ambulatory
23currency exchange may sell or issue money orders, and shall run
24to the Secretary for the use and benefit of any creditors of
25such ambulatory currency exchange for any liability incurred by
26the ambulatory currency exchange on any money orders issued or

 

 

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1sold by it to the public in the ordinary course of its
2business. Such bond shall be renewed annually. If after the
3expiration of one year from the date of approval of such bond
4by the Secretary, it shall appear that the average amount of
5such liability during the year has exceeded $100,000, the
6Secretary shall require the licensee to furnish a bond for the
7ensuing year, to be approved by the Secretary, for an
8additional principal sum of $1,000 for each $1,000 of such
9liability or fraction thereof in excess of the original
10$100,000, except that the maximum amount of such bond shall not
11be required to exceed $250,000.
12(Source: P.A. 97-315, eff. 1-1-12.)
 
13    (205 ILCS 405/9)  (from Ch. 17, par. 4816)
14    Sec. 9. No community or ambulatory currency exchange shall
15issue tokens to be used in lieu of money for the purchase of
16goods or services from any enterprise, except that currency
17exchanges may engage in the distribution of food stamps as
18authorized by Section 3.2.
19(Source: P.A. 80-439.)
 
20    (205 ILCS 405/10)  (from Ch. 17, par. 4817)
21    Sec. 10. Qualifications of applicant; denial of license;
22review. The applicant, and its controlling persons officers,
23directors and stockholders, if a corporation, and its managers
24and members, if a liability company, shall be vouched for by 2

 

 

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1reputable citizens of this State setting forth that the
2individual mentioned is (a) personally known to them to be
3trustworthy and reputable, (b) that he has business experience
4qualifying him to competently conduct, operate, own or become
5associated with a currency exchange, (c) that he has a good
6business reputation and is worthy of a license. Thereafter, the
7Secretary shall, upon approval of the application filed with
8him, issue to the applicant, qualifying under this Act, a
9license to operate a currency exchange. If it is a license for
10a community currency exchange, the same shall be valid only at
11the place of business specified in the application. If it is a
12license for an ambulatory currency exchange, it shall entitle
13the applicant to operate only at the location or locations
14specified in the application, provided the applicant shall
15secure separate and additional licenses for each of such
16locations. Such licenses shall remain in full force and effect,
17until they are surrendered by the licensee, or revoked, or
18expire, as herein provided. If the Secretary shall not so
19approve, he shall not issue such license or licenses and shall
20notify the applicant of such denial, retaining the full
21investigation fee to cover the cost of investigating the
22community currency exchange applicant. The Secretary shall
23approve or deny every application hereunder within 90 days from
24the filing of a complete application; except that in respect to
25an application by an approved ambulatory currency exchange for
26a license with regard to a particular location to be served by

 

 

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1it, the same shall be approved or denied within 20 days from
2the filing thereof. If the application is denied, the Secretary
3shall send by United States mail notice of such denial to the
4applicant at the address set forth in the application.
5    If an application is denied, the applicant may, within 10
6days from the date of the notice of denial, make written
7request to the Secretary for a hearing on the application, and
8the Secretary shall set a time and place for the hearing. The
9hearing shall be set for a date after the receipt by the
10Secretary of the request for hearing, and written notice of the
11time and place of the hearing shall be mailed to the applicant
12at least 15 days before the date of the hearing. The applicant
13shall pay the actual cost of making the transcript of the
14hearing prior to the Secretary's issuing his decision following
15the hearing. If, following the hearing, the application is
16denied, the Secretary shall, within 20 days thereafter prepare
17and keep on file in his office a written order of denial
18thereof, which shall contain his findings with respect thereto
19and the reasons supporting the denial, and shall send by United
20States Mail a copy thereof to the applicant at the address set
21forth in the application, within 5 days after the filing of
22such order. A review of any such decision may be had as
23provided in Section 22.01 of this Act.
24    For the purposes of this Act, "controlling person" means an
25officer, director, or person owning or holding power to vote
2610% or more of the outstanding voting securities of a licensee

 

 

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1or the power to vote the securities of another controlling
2person of the licensee. For purposes of determining the
3percentage of a licensee controlled by a controlling person,
4the person's interest shall be combined with the interest of
5any other person controlled, directly or indirectly, by that
6person or by a spouse, parent, or child of that person.
7(Source: P.A. 97-315, eff. 1-1-12.)
 
8    (205 ILCS 405/11)  (from Ch. 17, par. 4819)
9    Sec. 11. Such license, if issued for a community currency
10exchange, shall state the name of the licensee and the address
11at which the business is to be conducted. Such license, or and
12its annual renewal, shall be kept conspicuously posted in the
13place of business of the licensee and shall not be transferable
14or assignable. If issued for an ambulatory currency exchange,
15it shall so state, and shall state the name and office address
16of the licensee, and the name and address of the location or
17locations to be served by the licensee, and shall not be
18transferable and assignable.
19(Source: P.A. 97-315, eff. 1-1-12.)
 
20    (205 ILCS 405/18)  (from Ch. 17, par. 4834)
21    Sec. 18. Proof of address. The applicant for a community
22currency exchange license shall have a permanent address as
23evidenced by a lease of at least 6 six months duration or other
24suitable evidence of permanency, and the license issued,

 

 

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1pursuant to the application shall be valid only at that address
2in the application or any new address approved by the
3Secretary. A letter of intent for a lease shall suffice for
4inclusion with the application, and evidence of an executed
5lease shall be considered ministerial in nature, to be
6furnished once the investigation is completed, the approval
7final, and prior to the issuance of the license.
8(Source: P.A. 97-315, eff. 1-1-12.)".