(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.

Source Note: The provisions of this §3.75 adopted to be effective May 19, 1998, 23 TexReg 4902; amended to be effective June 26, 2023, 48 TexReg 3405