NRS370.682. Bond of nonparticipating manufacturer: Posting requirements; amount; execution; application of amount collected by State.

      1.  A nonparticipating manufacturer shall post a bond approved by the Attorney General for the benefit of the State of Nevada if:

      (a) The cigarettes of the nonparticipating manufacturer have not been sold in this State during any of the 4 immediately preceding calendar quarters;

      (b) The nonparticipating manufacturer or an affiliate failed to make a full and timely escrow deposit due under this chapter or chapter 370A of NRS during any of the immediately preceding 5 calendar years, unless the failure was neither knowing nor reckless and was promptly cured upon notice; or

      (c) The nonparticipating manufacturer or an affiliate, or any of the brand families of the nonparticipating manufacturer or an affiliate, were removed from the directory of this or any other state during any of the immediately preceding 5 calendar years, unless the removal is determined to have been erroneous or illegal.

      2.  The bond must be posted not less than 10 days before the beginning of each calendar quarter as a condition of the nonparticipating manufacturer and its brand families being included in the directory for that quarter. The amount of the bond must be the greater of $25,000 or the largest required escrow amount due from the nonparticipating manufacturer or its predecessor for any of the immediately preceding 12 calendar quarters.

      3.  If a nonparticipating manufacturer that posted a bond has failed to make or have made on its behalf escrow deposits equal to the full amount due for a calendar quarter within 15 business days after the due date for that calendar quarter, the State of Nevada may execute upon the bond in an amount equal to any remaining escrow amount due.

      4.  Any amount that the State of Nevada collects on a bond posted by a nonparticipating manufacturer pursuant to this section:

      (a) Must be deposited into a special escrow account established and maintained by the State of Nevada and used for purposes authorized for the use of money in the qualified escrow fund of the nonparticipating manufacturer pursuant to this chapter and chapter 370A of NRS; and

      (b) Reduces the escrow amount due from the nonparticipating manufacturer in the dollar amount collected.

      5.  Escrow obligations above the amount collected on the bond remain due from the nonparticipating manufacturer and, as provided in NRS 370.683, from wholesale dealers that sold the cigarettes of the nonparticipating manufacturer during that calendar quarter.

      6.  The withholding, use or return of amounts deposited into the special escrow account must be handled in the same manner as amounts deposited in the qualified escrow fund of the nonparticipating manufacturer pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and chapter 370A of NRS.

      7.  As used in this section, “affiliate” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 370A.030.

      (Added to NRS by 2011, 931)