Bill Text: NJ A2889 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Revises law concerning conduct of certain legislative investigations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-01 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A2889 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A2889-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
SYNOPSIS
Revises law concerning conduct of certain legislative investigations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act revising the law concerning certain legislative investigations and amending, supplementing, and repealing various parts of the statutory law.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) The Legislature finds and declares that:
the Legislature, as a coequal branch of State government and the lawmaking body, has inherent authority under the New Jersey Constitution to investigate any matter about which it may desire information;
the responsibility of the Legislature and its committees to investigate necessarily includes the need, in appropriate circumstances, to summon individuals as witnesses to provide testimony and evidence;
there is a need, therefore, to ensure that legislative committees are able, when necessary, to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify and provide evidence and to protect the rights of such witnesses who assert their right to be free from self-incrimination by providing them with use and derivative use immunity;
there is also a need to punish summoned witnesses who fail to appear or who appear but fail to give testimony or produce evidence, notwithstanding a grant of immunity, or who otherwise contempt the Legislature; and
accordingly, this act, P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) revises and updates existing law with respect to legislative investigations to ensure that the Legislature and its committees have access to information that they need to meet the Legislature's responsibility under the New Jersey Constitution while protecting the rights of witnesses who provide that information.
2. R.S.52:13-1 is amended to read as follows:
52:13-1. a. Any joint committee of the legislature, any standing committee of either house, or any special committee, directed by resolution to enter upon any investigation or inquiry, the pursuit of which shall necessitate the attendance of persons or the production of any evidence, including, but not limited to, documents, books [or] , records, papers, or objects, shall have [power] authority to compel, by subpoena, the attendance before it of such persons as witnesses and the production before it of such [books and papers] evidence as it may deem necessary, proper and relevant to the matter under investigation. Any such committee shall also have the power to employ such legal and clerical assistance as it may deem necessary to the proper conduct of the investigation.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of this section, a standing reference committee of either house, upon a majority vote of the committee's total membership, shall have the authority to exercise the powers conferred by R.S.52:13-1 et seq.
(cf. R.S.52:13-1)
3. R.S.52:13-2 is amended to read as follows:
52:13-2. If any person upon being summoned [in writing by order of] by subpoena issued by any committee mentioned in [section 52:13-1 of this title] R.S.52:13-1 to appear before such committee and testify or to produce evidence, fails to [obey such summons] appear or produce evidence, the [speaker] Speaker of the [house of assembly] General Assembly or the [president of the senate] President of the Senate, or in the case of a joint committee both such presiding officers, may, upon application [to him] from the committee, [by] authorize the committee, in writing, to issue a warrant [under his hand order the sergeant at arms of the house over which he presides] requesting the State Police to arrest such person and bring [him] that person before the committee, and the [sergeant at arms] State Police, as provided in R.S.53:2-2, shall thereupon execute the warrant [to him so directed], or that committee, with the written approval of the presiding officer or officers, as appropriate, may apply ex parte to the Superior Court for an order to compel the witness to obey the subpoena. The court shall have jurisdiction to hear the matter and may order the person to appear and give testimony or produce evidence. Any person failing to obey the court's order may be punished by the court as for contempt.
The Supreme Court shall adopt rules of court for the implementation of the provisions of this section that apply to the courts.
Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to impair or abridge any other remedy that may be available to a committee by law or the New Jersey Constitution.
(cf: R.S.52:13-2)
4. R.S.52:13-3 is amended to read as follows:
52:13-3. [Witnesses] Persons summoned to appear before any committee authorized by this article or any other law to conduct an investigation or inquiry shall be entitled to receive the same fees and mileage as persons summoned to testify in the courts of the state.
All such [witnesses] persons may be sworn as witnesses by any member of the committee conducting the investigation or inquiry; and all witnesses sworn before any such committee shall answer truly all questions put to them which the committee shall [decide] determine to be necessary, proper and [pertinent] relevant to the investigation or inquiry [; and any witness so sworn who shall swear falsely shall be guilty of perjury. No such witness shall be excused from answering any such questions on the ground that to answer the same might or would incriminate him; but no answers made by any witness to any such questions shall be used or admitted in evidence in any proceeding against such witness, except in a criminal prosecution against the witness for perjury in respect to his answers to such questions].
A committee may compel, by subpoena, any person to produce at a specific time and place any evidence, including, but not limited to, documents, books, records, papers, or objects that the committee determines to be necessary, proper and relevant to the matter under investigation.
If any person who has been issued a subpoena fails to appear or, having appeared, refuses to be sworn, refuses to answer any question, or refuses to produce evidence of any kind, on the ground that the person will be exposed to criminal prosecution or penalty, the committee, by a majority vote of the committee's total membership, may order that person to appear, to be sworn, to answer the question, or to produce the requested evidence. If, upon issuance of such an order, the person complies therewith, the committee, by a majority vote of its total membership, and with the written approval of the presiding officer of that house or in the case of a joint committee the presiding officers of both houses, shall grant that person use and derivative use immunity and that person shall be immune from having any responsive answer given or any responsive evidence produced, or any information directly or indirectly derived from such answer or evidence, used to expose the person to criminal prosecution, except that person may, nevertheless, be prosecuted for any other crime committed in such answer or in producing such evidence.
If any person who has received immunity as provided by this section refuses to comply with the terms of a subpoena, the committee may, by a vote of a majority of the total membership of the committee, find the person in contempt of the committee and, with the written approval of the presiding officer of that house, or in the case of a joint committee the presiding officers of both houses, may apply ex parte to the Superior Court to compel compliance with the subpoena. The court shall have jurisdiction to hear the matter and may order the person to appear and give testimony or produce evidence. Any person failing to obey the court's order may be punished by the court as for contempt.
Any [witness] person who refuses to answer any questions [decided] or produce evidence, determined by the committee to be necessary, proper and [pertinent shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and any witness] relevant, or who, having been summoned to appear before any such committee, fails to appear in obedience to the summons or, appearing, refuses to be sworn shall be guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the fourth degree.
Upon a finding that a person is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree by a vote of a majority of the total membership of the committee, the committee may forward to the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the General Assembly, as the case may be, or in the case of a joint committee to both presiding officers, a certified statement setting forth the underlying facts in support of the committee's decision to find a witness guilty of a crime of the fourth degree and the presiding officer or officers may authorize the committee to submit to the Mercer County prosecutor or the prosecutor of the county in which the witness resides, a certified copy of the committee's decision and a warrant for the witness' arrest, instructing the prosecutor to arrest the witness and bring that person before an appropriate judge of the Superior Court for sentencing.
The Supreme Court shall adopt rules of court for the implementation of the provisions of this section that apply to the courts.
Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to impair or abridge any other remedy that may be available to a committee by law or the New Jersey Constitution.
(cf: R.S.52:13-3)
5. R.S.52:13-4 is amended to read as follows:
52:13-4. The state treasurer shall, upon the warrant of the state comptroller, pay the fees and mileage of persons called as witnesses [called ,] and the compensation of legal and clerical assistance employed [and the expenses of the sergeant at arms of either house in the execution of warrants pursuant to section 52:13-2 of this title], when the same shall be certified as correct and necessary by the chairman of the committee under whose authority and by whose order the same shall have been incurred, but only when the chairman's certificate has received the approval of the governor.
(cf: R.S.52:13-4)
6. R.S.52:13-5 through R.S.52:13-13 are repealed.
7. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill finds and declares that New Jersey Constitution recognizes the inherent authority of the Legislature to conduct investigations and that this authority includes the ability to compel testimony and the production of evidence, as well as the granting of immunity to witnesses in appropriate circumstances.
The bill amends existing law concerning investigations by legislative committees to clarify the evidence that may be required to be produced, as well as the circumstances under which a committee may require a person to testify or produce evidence, grant immunity, and seek a court order compelling testimony or the production of evidence.
The bill provides that a standing reference committee of the Legislature will have all of the authority provided by law to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence, upon a majority vote of the committee's total membership. The bill clarifies that a person may be subpoenaed to testify before a committee or to produce evidence, including documents, books, records, papers, or objects that a committee determines to be necessary, proper and relevant to the matter under investigation. The bill provides that any person who refuses to comply with a subpoena may be arrested by the State Police and brought before the committee or ordered to comply with the subpoena by the Superior Court.
If any person fails to comply with a subpoena on the grounds of self-incrimination, the committee may order that person to appear, to be sworn, to answer questions, or produce the requested evidence, and, with the written approval of the presiding officer, grant that person use and derivative use immunity. This means that a person will be immune from having any responsive answer given or any responsive evidence produced, or any information directly or indirectly derived from such answer or evidence, used to expose the person to criminal prosecution, although that person may, nevertheless, be prosecuted for any other crime committed in such answer or in producing such evidence.
If any person who has been granted immunity refuses to comply with the terms of a subpoena, the committee may, by a vote of a majority of the total membership of the committee, find the person in contempt of the committee and, with the approval of the presiding officer, may apply to the Superior Court to compel compliance with the subpoena. Any person failing to obey the court's order may be punished by the court as for contempt.
The bill authorizes a committee, by a vote of a majority of its total membership, to find a person in contempt of the committee. It also provides that a committee, by a vote of a majority of its total membership, may find a witness who refuses to answer questions or produce evidence, fails to appear, or refuses to be sworn, guilty of a crime of the fourth degree. In such a case, the appropriate county prosecutor will arrest the witness and bring the person before a judge of the Superior Court for sentencing.
The bill changes the word "misdemeanor" in the statutes to "crime of the fourth degree" in order to be consistent with the terminology used in the current criminal code.
Finally, the bill repeals R.S.52:13-5 through R.S.52:13-13 which apply only to committees created by a joint resolution and provide for a trial before a joint session of the Legislature of persons who are accused of contempt of the Legislature. These provisions are supplanted by the bill's amendments to R.S.52:13-1 through R.S.52:13-4 that will apply to a broader range of committees.
