REPRESENTATIVE Marissa Flores on Wednesday urged the Senate to act on House Bill 23-22, which proposes granting subpoena power to the attorney general.
Authored by Flores, H.B. 23-22 was passed by the House in May and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Government and Law. It was on the bill calendar for action during the Senate session on Sept. 21, 2023, but was instead returned to the committee.
Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, in an interview, said the Senate is taking into consideration the comments submitted by the Office of the Public Defender.
During the miscellaneous part of the House session on Wednesday, Flores expressed concern about the recent lawsuit filed by Zerlyn A. Taimanao, the campaign treasurer of the committee to elect Ralph DLG Torres and Vinnie Sablan.
In her complaint, Taimanao is asking the court to stop the Office of the AG from enforcing a subpoena against her.
She said the AG’s application for the subpoena duces tecum was not connected to any civil or criminal case pending before court.
She wants the court to issue a declaratory judgment that the subpoena is null and void and has no legal force and effect. She is also seeking other relief, attorney’s fees and costs.
Authorization
H.B. 23-22 would allow the Office of the Attorney General to serve subpoenas, arrest and perform all other functions lawfully authorized for police officers.
Flores said the bill would establish “an express process for applying for investigative subpoenas and provide warnings and protection for witnesses who are called to testify or provide documents.”
These tools, according to the bill, “are particularly useful in public corruption cases when the collection of records and testimony is time sensitive. This bill should allow the attorney general to act quickly in responding to complaints regarding all criminal matters, but especially those involving misconduct by public officials.”
She also noted that Gov. Arnold I. Palacios in August 2023 signed an anti-corruption measure, Public Law 23-6, which was authored by Rep. Vicente Camacho.
“Our job here is to dig and find out what are the systemic problems. An elected AG has no subpoena power? I think that is a disgrace and embarrassing. We sit here talking about public corruption and yet for the longest time we never knew that the AG has no subpoena power,” Flores said. She said the Senate should “take out” H.B. 23-22 from the committee and put it on the floor.
“I want to see who is going to vote in favor of the bill, which is crucial in fighting corruption,” Flores said.
She also asked the general public to “call your senators and demand that they take H.B. 23-22 out of the committee and vote on it on the floor because we will see now who is for corruption and who isn’t. Whether it dies, it’s up to them. But at least the people would know.”
Concerned
In an interview, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero said the Senate is reviewing the comments of the Office of the Public Defender.
According to Public Defender Douglas W. Hartig, H.B. 23-22 creates an “unchecked police department” by creating an investigation unit within the OAG with the power of arrest.
Noting that the OAG is unchecked by the Legislature or the administration, the public defender said the bill “is completely unnecessary and ill-advised.”
Right now, he said, the OAG and the Office of the Public Auditor have oversight authority over the Department of Public Safety. But H.B. 23-22 would create a law enforcement agency with no oversight, Hartig said.
A state law enforcement agency oversees investigation throughout the entire state, just as DPW does throughout the Commonwealth, he said, adding that H.B. 23-22 would “eliminate the current checks and balances.”
In addition, “this will be expensive to implement. If created, it will need to be funded,” Hartig said.
The bill would “have the effect of having to cut the budget of another department or agency, or [would] lead the Legislature to raise taxes, again. This really doesn’t make sense,” Hartig said.
Duplication
When Flores asked Deleon Guerrero about the bill last September, the Senate president said she told the representative that the Senate wanted to make sure that the bill would not result in “duplication” of functions.
The Senate president also noted the fiscal year 2024 budget shortfall. “It makes me worry if any additional cost would be borne [by the government],” she said.
Nevertheless, Deleon Guerrero said she assured Flores that the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Government and Law will submit its committee report as soon as it looked at “all these, plus other [concerns].”
He said based on Hartig’s comments “we have to be concerned.”
She said “it’s important to look at the truth behind this particular legislation before people start casting blame and especially now that a private citizen has filed a lawsuit.”
She said people should ask why an agency issued a subpoena when it has no authority to do so.
“Could such an act be considered harassment of a private citizen?” Deleon Guerrero asked.
She said it is also a concern when some elected officials chose to ignore the public defender’s comments because “Kingman needs it,” referring to Assistant Attorney General James Robert Kingman, who is prosecuting former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for misconduct in office related to first-class travel and other charges.
Most recently, Deleon Guerrero said, “another elected official private-messaged me wanting to introduce Kingman. And my question was, ‘Are you Kingman’s lobbyist?’ ” She did not name the elected official.
“But back to the question, ‘Why serve an unauthorized subpoena on a private citizen?’ And now that the CNMI government is being sued, we certainly don’t have the money to pay for it,” she added.
