(a)  Business hours. Business hours for the livestock facilities shall be from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except for state and federal holidays. When necessary, livestock facility managers may, at their discretion, alter these normal hours of operation. If deemed necessary by the department, livestock facilities located along the Texas-Mexico border may remain open on certain state or federal holidays. Additionally, the facilities may close, or exports of livestock may not occur, on official Mexican holidays.     
      (b) Special arrangements. Arrangements for receiving, shipping, handling, or feeding of livestock during times other than normal working hours must be made with the respective livestock facility manager or office manager prior to 4 p.m. on normal work days, Monday through Friday, exclusive of holidays. Requests for operation of facilities during nonbusiness hours shall be made at least 24 hours in advance.     
      (c) Operations during nonbusiness hours. Consignors who use the livestock facilities at times other than the business hours provided in subsection (a) of this section shall be assessed a surcharge consisting of $100 per shipment plus $50 per departmental employee per hour or portion of an hour that is worked during the nonbusiness hours. The surcharge established by this subsection is not applicable to the Houston livestock facility.     
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §17.32 adopted to be effective May 28, 1993, 18 TexReg 3093; amended to be effective January 10, 2013, 38 TexReg 241; amended to be effective February 7, 2023, 48 TexReg 506