10-4-101. Licenses for flue-cured leaf tobacco auction sales; “clean-up” sale licenses.

No person, real or corporate, shall operate, hold, or conduct an auction sale for the sale of flue-cured leaf tobacco within this state without first having obtained a license for the regular selling season in which the sale is made from the Commissioner of Agriculture. Each license so issued shall automatically expire at the end of the regular selling season. The regular selling season shall be deemed to have ended at the close of business on the marketing day any regulatory group or committee shall cause any of the sets of buyers normally assigned to the Georgia flue-cured leaf tobacco auction markets to be withdrawn for the purpose of reassigning them to auction markets in other tobacco belts. The Commissioner, in his or her discretion, may issue additional licenses to warehousemen at the end of the regular selling season as he or she deems necessary and desirable for “clean-up” sales or special sales, such licenses to terminate at the conclusion of the “clean-up” or special sale. The license fee shall be $150.00 for each regular selling season with no additional fee for licenses issued for “clean-up” or special sales. Licenses shall be subject to renewal from one regular selling season to another under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner shall prescribe. Any fees collected pursuant to this Code section shall be retained pursuant to the provisions of Code Section 45-12-92.1.