(a) Upon reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard, the commissioner may deny the application for a finance lender, broker, or program administrator license for any of the following reasons:

(1) A false statement of a material fact has been made in the application.

(2) The applicant or an officer, director, general partner, person responsible for the applicant’s lending activities or administering PACE programs for the applicant in this state, or person owning or controlling, directly or indirectly, 10 percent or more of the outstanding interests or equity securities of the applicant has, within the last 10 years, been convicted of or pleaded nolo contendere to a crime, or committed an act involving dishonesty, fraud, or deceit, if the crime or act is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a person engaged in business in accordance with this division.

(3) The applicant or an officer, director, general partner, person responsible for the applicant’s lending activities or administering PACE programs for the applicant in this state, or person owning or controlling, directly or indirectly, 10 percent or more of the outstanding interests or equity securities of the applicant has violated any provision of this division or the rules thereunder or any similar regulatory scheme of the State of California or a foreign jurisdiction.

(4) The applicant employs a mortgage loan originator who is not licensed, or has not initiated an application to become licensed, pursuant to this division.

(b) The application shall be considered withdrawn within the meaning of this section if the applicant fails to respond to a written notification of a deficiency in the application within 90 days of the date of the notification.

(c) The commissioner shall, within 60 days from the filing of a full and complete application for a license with the fees, either issue a license or file a statement of issues prepared in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2019.

(Repealed (in Sec. 39) and added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 475, Sec. 40. (AB 1284) Effective October 4, 2017. Section operative January 1, 2019, by its own provisions.)