A bill that has passed the North Dakota Legislature will give the North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner more autonomy and discretion over who gets grain merchandising licenses in North Dakota and over how much financial and other information they must provide, reports AgWeek.
House Bill 1026 was sparked by the Hunter Hanson fraud in 2018. Stuart Letcher, executive vice president of the North Dakota Grain Dealers, said his organization is in “full support” of this version of the bill.
For elevators, it will mean increased financial scrutiny, particularly when applying for an initial license.
For grain brokers, who charge commissions to arrange transactions, it allows the commissioner to “join” them and their bonds into insolvency proceedings.
Read the full report at AgWeek.
