Arizona Laws 44-1627. Licensing; requirements
A. A person shall not act as a pawnbroker until licensed by the sheriff of the county in which the person regularly conducts business.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 44-1627
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Designee: means a local law enforcement agency designated in writing by a county sheriff to perform designated duties specified in this article on behalf of the sheriff. See Arizona Laws 44-1621
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- File: when used in connection with information on any consumer, means all of the information on that consumer recorded and retained by a consumer reporting agency regardless of how the information is stored. See Arizona Laws 44-1691
- Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. Source: OCC
- Moral turpitude: means an offense, whether a misdemeanor or felony, that is related to extortion, burglary, larceny, bribery, embezzlement, robbery, racketeering, money laundering, forgery, fraud, murder, voluntary manslaughter or a sexual offense that requires the individual to register pursuant to section 13-3821. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Pawnbroker: means a person who is engaged in the business of advancing money on the security of pledged goods or is engaged in the business of purchasing tangible personal property on the condition that it may be redeemed or repurchased by the seller for a fixed or variable price within a fixed or variable period of time. See Arizona Laws 44-1621
- Pawnshop: means the location or premises at which a pawnbroker is licensed to regularly conduct the pawnbroker's business. See Arizona Laws 44-1621
- Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or any other entity of whatever kind or nature. See Arizona Laws 44-1691
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
B. A pawnbroker shall obtain a separate license for each pawnshop owned by that pawnbroker.
C. A pawnbroker license may not be sold or transferred without the approval of the sheriff or the sheriff’s designee.
D. A pawnbroker shall not conduct business at a location other than a licensed location except for firearms transactions that are permitted by a federally licensed firearms dealer at an organized gun show.
E. Every pawnbroker shall be a bona fide resident of this state. If a partnership, each partner shall be a bona fide resident of this state. If a corporation, it shall be a domestic corporation or a foreign corporation which has qualified to do business in this state. The corporation shall hold its pawnbroker license through an agent.
F. The sheriff or the sheriff’s designee shall require any person, other than a bank or licensed lending institution, having any interest, directly or indirectly, in a pawnshop to submit a full set of fingerprints, together with the applicable fingerprint processing fee, to the sheriff. The sheriff shall submit the fingerprints to the department of public safety for the purpose of obtaining a state and federal criminal records check pursuant to section 41-1750 and Public Law 92-544. The department of public safety may exchange this fingerprint data with the federal bureau of investigation. The sheriff shall forward the fee to the department of public safety.
G. A corporation shall own the entire equitable interest in its license through an agent if the agent is otherwise qualified to hold a pawnbroker license. The agent is subject to the penalties prescribed for any violation of law relating to pawnbrokers. On the death, resignation or discharge of an agent of a corporation holding a pawnbroker license, the corporation shall promptly assign the license to another qualified agent selected by the corporation.
H. The sheriff shall not issue a license to a person who, within one year before the application, has violated any provision of a previously issued pawnbroker license or has had a license revoked. The sheriff shall not issue to or renew a license of a person who, within five years before the application, has been convicted of a felony involving trafficking in stolen property, fraudulent schemes, forgery, theft, extortion or conspiracy to defraud or a felony involving moral turpitude. The sheriff shall not issue to or renew a license of a corporation unless it has on file with the sheriff of the county in which the license is issued a list of its officers and directors and any stockholders who own ten per cent or more of the corporation. The sheriff shall not issue to or renew a license of a corporation if any of its officers or directors or any stockholder who owns ten per cent or more of the corporation has within five years been convicted of a felony involving trafficking in stolen property, fraudulent schemes, forgery, theft, extortion or conspiracy to defraud or a felony involving moral turpitude.
I. The sheriff shall not issue a license to a person or corporation that has knowingly made any false statements or material misrepresentations in the license application.
J. A person shall not use the word "pawn", "pawnshop" or "pawnbroker" in its business name, on any sign or in any advertisement unless the person is licensed as a pawnbroker pursuant to this article.