§ 19-14.4-2. Public notice of application. (a) Upon the filing of any application in due form, accompanied by the required fee and documents, notice thereof shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in this state. Each notice shall contain:

(1) The name of the applicant;

(2) The location of the proposed site; and

(3) A statement that any comment or objection by anyone in relation to the application should be submitted in writing to the director, or the director's designee, for consideration within ten (10) business days of the date of publication.

(b) The general assembly finds and declares that check-cashing businesses provide important and vital services to Rhode Island citizens; that the number of check-cashing businesses should be limited in accordance with the needs of the communities they are to serve; and that it is in the public interest to promote and foster check-cashing businesses and to insure their financial stability.

(c) The director, or the director's designee, shall cause an investigation of the needs of the community for the establishment of a check-cashing business at the location specified in the application and the effect that granting the license will have on the financial stability of other check-cashing businesses that may be serving the community in which the business of the applicant is proposed to be conducted. If the issuance of a license to engage in the check-cashing business at the location specified will not promote the needs and the convenience and advantage of the community in which the check-cashing business of the applicant is proposed to be conducted, then the application may be denied.

(d) The director, or the director's designee, shall investigate to ascertain whether the qualifications and requirements have been met. Within ninety (90) days after the publication of the notice, if the director, or the director's designee, finds that the qualifications have been met, he or she shall issue to the applicant a license to engage in the business of cashing checks in this state.

History of Section. (P.L. 1995, ch. 82, § 56.)