(1) APPLICATION. Except as provided in sub. (2), no person may operate a warehouse, including a cold-storage warehouse, for the storage of property as bailee for hire without a public warehouse keeper’s license. A person desiring a public warehouse keeper’s license shall apply on a form furnished by the department and shall set forth the location, size, character and equipment of the building or premises to be used by the applicant, the kinds of goods intended to be stored, the name of each partner if a partnership or of each member if a limited liability company, the names of the officers if a corporation, and such other facts as the department requires to show that the property proposed to be used is suitable for a warehouse and that the applicant is qualified as a public warehouse keeper. Subject to s. 93.135, if the property proposed to be used is suitable for a public warehouse and the applicant is otherwise qualified, a license shall be issued upon payment of the license fee under sub. (3) and the filing of security or insurance as required under s. 99.03. (2) LICENSE NOT REQUIRED. No license is required for any of the following: (a) A municipal corporation. (c) A person who operates a warehouse storing only grain, as defined under s. 126.01 (13). (d) A cooperative association or an unincorporated cooperative association storing farm products and merchandise for members. (e) A person who owns and uses warehouses for storage of manufactured dairy products, canned produce or dairy products, manufactured by the person. (f) A common carrier engaged solely in the transit and storage of property for periods not exceeding 30 days. (g) A person who stores property received under a writ of restitution under s. 799.44 (2) if that person was the plaintiff in the action that resulted in the issuance of the writ of restitution. (h) An agricultural society, association, or board that conducts a county or district fair and that receives aid under s. 93.23. (3) FEES. (a) An applicant for a public warehouse keeper’s license shall pay the following annual license fee, unless the fee is otherwise established by department rule: 1. For a Class 1 public warehouse, $50. 2. For a Class 2 public warehouse, $100. 3. For a Class 3 public warehouse, $150. 4. For a Class 4 public warehouse, $200. 5. For a Class 5 public warehouse, $250. (b) No license shall be issued for part of a year for less than the annual fee, and the license is not transferable. The license period expires June 30. (c) The department may exempt from the operation of this section a public warehouse or portion thereof if the operator has a license under the federal bonded warehouse act. (d) If the department conducts a reinspection of any warehouse operated by a person licensed under this section due to any violation of any federal or state law that the department determines in a regularly scheduled inspection of that warehouse, the department shall charge the license holder for the reinspection as follows: 1. The holder of a license under par. (a) 1.: $50. 2. The holder of a license under par. (a) 2.: $100. 3. The holder of a license under par. (a) 3.: $150. 4. The holder of a license under par. (a) 4.: $200. 5. The holder of a license under par. (a) 5.: $250. (e) An applicant for a public warehouse keeper’s license shall pay a license fee surcharge of $100 if the department determines that, within one year before submitting the license application, the applicant operated the public warehouse without a license in violation of sub. (1). Payment of this license fee surcharge does not relieve the applicant of any other civil or criminal liability that results from the unlicensed operation of the public ware- house, but does not constitute evidence of any other violation of law. (4) SIGN POSTED. Every public warehouse keeper shall keep a conspicuous sign posted on the outside of each public warehouse, at its main entrance, which sign shall state clearly the name of the public warehouse keeper and that the warehouse is a public warehouse.
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