APPEAL OF DEPARTMENT ACTION BY WAREHOUSE OPERATOR

(a) A department action or order affecting a warehouse operator under this chapter is appealable in accordance with this section unless the action involves agency rulemaking, the assessment of an administrative penalty, imposition of a license sanction, or any other action for which a specific administrative or judicial remedy is available under this chapter, Chapter 12 of this code, or Chapter 2001, Government Code. (b) Not later than the 10th day after the date the department takes an action or issues an order described by Subsection (a), the warehouse operator may serve notice on the department to appear in a district court of Travis County or the district court of the county in which the public grain warehouse is located. The court shall fix the time of the hearing not less than 3 days or more than 20 days after the date of service of the notice. (c) The burden is on the warehouse operator to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the action taken or order issued by the department was not authorized under this chapter or, if authorized, was an abuse of the department's discretion.