Section 13-09.1-13 - Issuance of license1. When an application for an original license under this chapter appears to include all the items, addresses, all of the matters that are required, the application is complete and the commissioner shall promptly notify the applicant in a record of the date on which the application is determined to be complete. The commissioner shall approve or deny the application within one hundred twenty days after the completion date. The commissioner may for good cause extend the application period.2. A determination by the commissioner that an application is complete and is accepted for processing means only that the application, on its face, appears to include all of the items, including the criminal background check response from the federal bureau of investigation, and address all of the matters that are required, and is not an assessment of the substance of the application or of the sufficiency of the information provided.3. When an application is filed and considered complete under this section, the commissioner shall investigate the applicant's financial condition and responsibility, financial and business experience, character, and general fitness. The commissioner may conduct an onsite investigation of the applicant, the reasonable cost of which the applicant must pay. The commissioner shall issue a license to an applicant under this section if the commissioner finds that all of the following conditions have been fulfilled:a. The applicant has complied with sections 13-09.1-11 and 13-09.1-12; andb. The financial condition and responsibility, financial and business experience, competence, character, and general fitness of the applicant; and the competence, experience, character, and general fitness of the key individuals and persons in control of the applicant indicate that it is in the interest of the public to permit the applicant to engage in money transmission.4. If an applicant avails itself or is otherwise subject to a multistate licensing process: a. The commissioner may accept the investigation results of a lead investigative state for the purpose of subsection 3 if the lead investigative state has sufficient staffing, expertise, and minimum standards; orb. If North Dakota is a lead investigative state, the commissioner may investigate the applicant pursuant to subsection 3 and the time frames established by agreement through the multistate licensing process, provided, however, that in no case shall the time frame be noncompliant with the application period in subdivision a of subsection 1.5. The commissioner shall issue a formal written notice of the denial of a license application within thirty days of the decision to deny the application. The commissioner shall set forth in the notice of denial the specific reasons for the denial of the application. An applicant whose application is denied by the commissioner under this subsection may appeal within thirty days after receipt of the written notice of the denial by requesting a hearing before the commissioner in accordance with chapter 28-32.6. The initial license term shall begin on the day the application is approved. The license shall expire on December thirty-first of the year in which the license term began, unless the initial license date is between November first and December thirty-first, in which instance the initial license term runs through December thirty-first of the following year.Added by S.L. 2023 , ch. 137( SB 2119 ), § 2, eff. 7/1/2023.