AUSTIN aa. TEJanuary 5, 1962

Chairman of the Special House Committee to Investigate Enforcement of Texas Escheat LawsApplicable to Ranking Institutions House of Re,presentatives Austin, Texas Opinion No. WW-1235

Dear Sir: Re: Whether the Special House Committee'to Investigate Enforcement of Texas Escheat LawsApplicable to Banking Institutions have the authority to obtain information from banks by requested questionnaires and related questions.

Wequote as follows from your recent letter enclosing a form questionnaire and subpoena issued byyour Committee to various presidents of banks in the State of Texas:



## “(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5) Does this Committee have the right to obtain the information requested in the questionnaire?

Does this Committee have the right to obtain the information requested in the subpoena?

Does this Committee have the right to subpoena witnesses to appear before it andto bring the information requested in the subpoena that was issued by this Committee?

Wha.tuse, if any, can bemadeby the Committee of the information nowin the hands of the chief counsel?

Whatdisposition must the Committee makewith the information nowin the hands of the Committee counsel byhim?"Chairman of the Special House, page 2 (WW-1235)

Roth the questionnaire andthe subpoenas reflect that the subject committee was seeking information from banks relative to property being held bybanking institutions under adepositorcreditor relationshi,p andwhich maybe subject to escheat. Patently, the Committee was endeavoring to obtain information which is within the sco,pe of the study which the Committee was expressly authorized to undertake in the Resolution creating the Committee. House Simple Resolution No. 16, 57th Legislature, First Called Session (1961). This Is demonstrated by the following excerpt from that Resolution:

“RESOLVEDbythe House of Representatives of the State of Texas, that an Interim Study Committee be appointed by the Speaker of the House to make
athorough and complete study of the escheat laws of this State andproperty which maybe subject thereto held byb ki ginstitutions under a depositor-credito?re?ationship for the purpose of recommending to the Legislat&e afair and equitable procedure bywhich unknownowners and heirs maybe advertsled for anddiscovered, and bywhich the Sta.te maydetect andobtain anyof such ,property which rightfully belon sto the State under present escheat laws”

. Supplied). 7Emphasis

Therefore, the paramount question before us is whether the Committee is authorized to secure the information by~theparticular
manner andmeans employed. It is elementary that ‘alegislative~ committee can lawfully re uest pertinent information from any source andwhere such request is vountaril
a complied with thf information maybe utilized bythe Commi ee to he extent authorized by the Legislative body creating such committee. Hence, your first question is answered in the affirmative. Your second question is also answered in the affirmative in the sense that the committee has a right to obtain the information, provided it uses anauthorized
means of securing the information.

Wepass to your third question relative to the power of the Committee to subpoena witnesses to appear before it and to bring the informa.tion requ.ested in the subpoena. Thequestion, in other words, is whether the Committee is authorized to cornel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence &e the Committee. Such authority as the Committee derives from H.S.R. No. 16 in this respect is exhibited by the following portion of the Resolution:

“Such Committee shall consist of five (5) members with aChairman to be a,ppointed by the Speaker ofChairman of the Special House, page 3 (w-1235)

the House, and it shall initiate andcontinu~e studies andhearings relating to such matters with the sameauthzrlty andpowers as vested in standing and special committees of the House by General Lawand'the Legislative Reorganization Act of lgbl, Chapter 303, Fiftyseventh Regular Session [codified as Article 5429f)

." (Emphasis Sup,plied).

Wefind nothing in the "General Law"of this State vesting subpoena powers'in standing and special committees of the House of Representatives. Neither dowefind such powersbeing vested in standing and special committees byArticle 542gf,'V.C.S., except whenauthorized byResolution or by Rule of Procedure of the House creating such committee, andweare unable to discover any such authorization as to the subject committee in either the pertinent Resolution or the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives.

Section 12of Article 54291 provides as follows:

"Each Committee of the Legislature, or of either;House thereof, standing or special, whenauthorized byResolution or by.Rule of Procedure of the House or Houses creating such committee, shall have the power and authority to Issue process to witnesses at anyplace in the State of Texas, to compel the attendance of such witnesses; andto compel the production of all books, records, documents and instruments as the committee shall require; and if necessary to obtain compliance with subpoenas andother process issued by the committee, each committee shall have the power to issue writs of attachment. All process issued by

acommittee maybe addressed to and served by any Peace Officer of the State of Texas or any of its political subdivisions or maybe served byaSergeantat-Arms a,ppointed by such committee. TheChairman shall issue in the nsmeof the committee such subpoenas andother process as the Committee shall determine". (Rnphasis Supplied).

Theapplicable House Rule, Section 20of Rule 8, provides

as follows:

"All committees shall require all witnesses appearing before said committees to give their testimony under oath, and each committee mayavail itself of such other additional powers andprerogatives as areChairman of the Special House, ,page4 (WW-1235)

authorized by the provisions of,Chapter 41, Acts

w 45th Legislature; page b7 codified as r icle 5429a, V.A.C.S. of the State of Texas." (Emphasis Supplied).
Thus, the House Rules refer us to Article 5429a to'determine the f:owers conferred on committees by the House Rules. But Article 5 of 1961. 29awas repealed and replaced byArticle 542gf in June

Accordingly, wemust look to Article 542gf for the powers which are possessed bythe subject committee. Aswehave already pointed out, Article 5429f, in Section 12thereof, makes authorization byResolution or byHouse Rule aprerequisite to the exercise of subpoena powers byastanding or special committee. Soit is that wehave madethe full circle without encountering any authorization for the subject committee to issue process to witnesses andto compel their attendance andto compel production of evidence before the committee.

There'are twoother sections of Article 5429f which bear
on this Issue. Oneof themis Section 7, which provides as follows with regard to special committees:

"Each House of the Legislature acting individually,
or the twoHouses acting jointly, shall have full power andauthority to provide for the creation of special committees to perform such functions and to exercise such powers and responsibilities as shall be determined In the Resolution creating such committee. During the life of aspecial committee, it shall have and exercise the same powers andauthority as are herein granted to standing committees; subject to such limitations
as masbe imoosed in the Resolution creating such special committee, and shall have such othe; and additional powers andauthority as maybe delegated to it bythe Resolution creating the committee, subject to the limitations of law". (Emphasis Added).

It is seen from Section 7that special committees have only the powers granted thembyResolution creating the committee andthe powers granted to standing committees. Wehave previously shownthat subpoena power is not conferred onthe subject committee by the Resolution creating the committee. Whatare the subpoena powers granted to standing committees under Article 5429f? Section 5of the statute provides as follows: "Standing committees of each House of the Legislature shall be andthey are hereby charged with

### Chairman of the Special House, page 5 (WW-1235)

the duty andresponsibility of formulating legislative programs, initiating,legislation, andmaking inquiry into the administration and exeaution of all laws pertaining to the matters within the jurisdiction of such committee. Eachstanding committee shall makeacontinuing study of the matters under its jurisdiction, as well asthe instrumentalities of government administering or executing such matters, and shall conduct such investigations
as the committee deems n,ecessary to supply it with adequate information andmaterial to discharge'its responsibilities. To~the extent that each standing committee shall deemit necessary and desirable, it shall draft legislation within the area of its jurisdiction and shall recommend such legislation to whichever House of the Legislature such committee is apart. It shall be the duty of the Chairman of each standing committee to introduce, or cause to be introduced, the legislative programs developed by such committee andto mobilize the efforts of such committee to secure the enactment ,into law of the proposals of such committee. Nostanding committee of either House of'the Legislature shall be confined in its legislative endeavors to bills, 

### Resolutions or proposals submitted to it by

### individual Membersof the Legislature, but each standing committee shall have full authority and responsibility to seek out problems within its
area of jurisdiction andto develop, formulate, initiate and secure passage of legislative ,programs which the committee deems desirable in its approach to such problems".

Nowhere in Section 5is any express grant of subpoena powers madeto standing committees. It is our opinion, moreover, that such power cannot be said to arise by necessary implication from the language of Section 5. This conclusion is supported bythe fact that the Legislature elsewhere in Article 5&2$Xdelegates to General Investigating Committees in plain andunambiguous language the power to issue process andcompel the attendance of witnesses. It is thus seen that the Legislature expressly delegated such authority where it wished to confer this power onacommittee. It mayreasonably be presumedthat the Legislature would have done so inequally clear andunmistakable terms in the case of standing and special committees had the Legislature desired to delegate such power to those committees unconditionally. Thevalidity of this construction is further confirmed bythe fact that the LegislatureChairman of the Special House, page 6 (w-1235)

madeprovision for the compensationof witnesses attending ,proceedings of the General Investigating Committees under ,process, but omitted such provision from the portions’of the statute dealing with special’and standing committees. (4) of Article 5429f. See Section 8(b)

In the final analysis, then, it is the absence of any delegation of subpoena ,powers to the subject committee In the Resolution creating the commIttee that is determinative of our present inquiry and necessitates ananswer to your third question in the negative.

In answer to your fourth question, anyuse or disclosure of information which has been relinquished to the committee under the threat of being cited for contempt for failure to comply with the commandsof subpoenas issued by the committee.‘which threat is inherent in every subpoena lawful’on its face, would be in excess of the authority of the committee.

In answer to your fifth question, as the information that was delivered to the committee’s chief counsel in sealed envelopes is the property of the respective banks, and in view of our answer to your fourth question, the sealed envelopes should be delivered to the owners u,pontheir request.

SUMMARY

TheLegislature has given the subject committee the authority to request the described information byquestionnaire but has not given it authority to compel the production of such information before the committee by subpoena andthe committee cannot use or disclose such information as is relinquished to the committee in response to such subpoenas. Very truly yours,
WILLWILSON Attorney General of Texas



### h&h%? “H:b$w* Assistant Attorney GeneralChairman of the Special House, page 7 (WW-1235)

APPROVED:

OPINIONCOMMITTEE W.V. Geppert, Chairman

HowardMays J. C. Davis BobShannon Riley Eugene Fletcher

REVIEWED

FORTHEATTORNEY GENERkL BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.