Sec. 14.064. CERTAIN LOADOUT FEES PROHIBITED

(a) A warehouse operator may not charge a fee for loading out grain if the loadout was the result of the misconduct of the warehouse operator.

(b) Misconduct under this section includes:

(1) violation of this chapter as established by final, unappealable order of the commissioner;

(2) conviction of a crime, including a plea of nolo contendere, described as an offense under this chapter; and

(3) conviction of a crime, including a plea of nolo contendere, described as an offense under the Penal Code and involving any type of fraud or theft related to the storing, shipping, handling, sale, or purchase of grain or the sale or purchase of grain handling, shipping, or storage equipment or warehouse structures or other assets.

(c) A loadout fee collected during a period of suspension of a warehouse operator's license by the department, after revocation of a warehouse operator's license, or during a period in which criminal charges are pending against a warehouse operator, shall be placed in an escrow account by the warehouse operator until:

(1) the department's suspension is lifted;

(2) the prosecutor ceases to pursue criminal charges;

(3) the indictment or information is dismissed by a court; or

(4) the warehouse operator is acquitted.

(d) If misconduct is finally determined to have occurred as provided by Subsection (b), the loadout fees placed in escrow shall be returned to the person originally paying those fees. The loadout fees placed in escrow shall be returned to the warehouse operator if the warehouse operator is found not to have committed misconduct by acquittal, by the dismissal of the criminal charges, or by final order of the commissioner.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1124, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.