| (a) The department shall issue a Notice of Violation
to each person against whom the department has proposed to assess
a penalty under §3.74 of this chapter (relating to Penalties
for Non-Payment of Assessment and Failure To Timely Report Acreage).
The Notice of Violation with attachments shall include a brief statement
of the matters alleged, the amount of the recommended penalty, the
date on which the penalty will be assessed, the dates and amounts
of any penalty increases, in accordance with the department's penalty
matrix, and the right of the person charged to request a hearing.
(b) A person against whom a penalty has been assessed
may accept the determination of the department, including the recommended
penalty, or may protest the determination and request a hearing. A
notice of protest and request for hearing may be emailed to the department
or mailed to Texas Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 12847, Austin,
Texas 78711.
(c) If the person accepts the determination of the
department or fails to timely protest the determination as provided
by subsection (d) of this section, the commissioner shall issue an
order approving the determination and ordering payment of the penalty.
(d) If the person protests the determination of the
department and requests a hearing, a hearing on the matter shall be
provided and conducted in accordance with the procedures provided
for contested cases in the Texas Administrative Procedure Act, Government
Code, Chapter 2001, Chapter 1 of this title (relating to General Procedures),
and the State Office of Administrative Hearing's rules of procedures
in Title 1, Chapter 155 of the Texas Administrative Code (relating
to Rules of Procedure). The request for a hearing must be made to
the department not later than 20 days after the date of receipt of
the Notice of Violation.
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