AUSTIN aa. TE-
January 5, 1962
Chairman of the Special House
Committee to Investigate En-
forcement of Texas Escheat
Laws Applicable to Ranking
Institutions
House of Re,presentatives
Austin, Texas
Opinion No. WW-1235
Re: Whether the Special House
Committee'to Investigate
Enforcement of Texas Es-
cheat Laws Applicable to
Banking Institutions have
the authority to obtain
information from banks by
requested questionnaires
Dear Sir: and related questions.
We quote as follows from your recent letter enclosing a
form questionnaire and subpoena issued by your Committee to
various presidents of banks in the State of Texas:
“(1) Does this Committee have the right to obtain
the information requested in the questionnaire?
(2) Does this Committee have the right to obtain
the information requested in the subpoena?
(3) Does this Committee have the right to subpoena
witnesses to appear before it and to bring the
information requested in the subpoena that was
issued by this Committee?
(4) Wha.t use, if any, can be made by the Committee
of the information now in the hands of the
chief counsel?
(5) What disposition must the Committee make with
the information now in the hands of the Com-
mittee counsel by him?"
Chairman of the Special House, page 2 (WW-1235)
Roth the questionnaire and the subpoenas reflect that
the subject committee was seeking information from banks relative
to property being held by banking institutions under a depositor-
creditor relationshi,p and which may be subject to escheat. Pat-
ently, 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:
“RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
State of Texas, that an Interim Study Committee
be appointed by the Speaker of the House to make
a thorough and complete study of the escheat laws
of this State and property which may be subject
thereto held by b ki g institutions under a
depositor-credito?re?ationship for the purpose
of recommending to the Legislat&e a fair and
equitable procedure by which unknown owners and
heirs may be advertsled for and discovered, and
by which the Sta.te may detect and obtain any of
such ,property which rightfully belon s to the
State under present escheat laws”. 7 Emphasis
Supplied).
Therefore, the paramount question before us is whether the
Committee is authorized to secure the information by ~the particular
manner and means employed. It is elementary that ‘a legislative~
committee can lawfully re uest pertinent information from any source
and where such request is vo untaril complied with thf information
may be utilized by the aCommi 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 an authorized
means of securing the information.
We pass 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. The question,
in other words, is whether the Committee is authorized to corn el
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 a Chairman to be a,ppointed by the Speaker of
Chairman of the Special House, page 3 (w-1235)
the House, and it shall initiate and continu~e
studies and hearings relating to such matters
with the same authzrlty and powers as vested
in standing and special committees of the
House by General Law and'the Legislative Re-
organization Act of lgbl, Chapter 303, Fifty-
seventh Regular Session [codified as Article
5429f) . " (Emphasis Sup,plied).
We find nothing in the "General Law" of this State vesting
subpoena powers'in standing and special committees of the House of
Representatives. Neither do we find such powersbeing vested in
standing and special committees by Article 542gf,'V.C.S., except
when authorized by Resolution or by Rule of Procedure of the House
creating such committee, and we are 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 12 of Article 54291 provides as follows:
"Each Committee of the Legislature, or of either;House
thereof, standing or special, when authorized by Reso-
lution 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 any place
in the State of Texas, to compel the attendance of
such witnesses; and to compel the production of all
books, records, documents and instruments as the
committee shall require; and if necessary to obtain
compliance with subpoenas and other process issued
by the committee, each committee shall have the power
to issue writs of attachment. All process issued by
a committee may be addressed to and served by any
Peace Officer of the State of Texas or any of its
political subdivisions or may be served by a Sergeant-
at-Arms a,ppointed by such committee. The Chairman
shall issue in the nsme of the committee such sub-
poenas and other process as the Committee shall
determine". (Rnphasis Supplied).
The applicable House Rule, Section 20 of Rule 8, provides
as follows:
"All committees shall require all witnesses appearing
before said committees to give their testimony under
oath, and each committee may avail itself of such
other additional powers and prerogatives as are
Chairman of the Special House, ,page 4 (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'deter-
mine the owers conferred on committees by the House Rules. But
Article 5f: 29a was repealed and replaced by Article 542gf in June
of 1961. Accordingly, we must look to Article 542gf for the
powers which are possessed by the subject committee. As we have
already pointed out, Article 5429f, in Section 12 thereof, makes
authorization by Resolution or by House Rule a prerequisite to
the exercise of subpoena powers by a standing or special committee.
So it is that we have made the full circle without encountering
any authorization for the subject committee to issue process to
witnesses and to compel their attendance and to compel production
of evidence before the committee.
There'are two other sections of Article 5429f which bear
on this Issue. One of them is Section 7, which provides as follows
with regard to special committees:
"Each House of the Legislature acting individually,
or the two Houses acting jointly, shall have full
power and authority 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 a special
committee, it shall have and exercise the same
powers and authority as are herein granted to
standing committees; subject to such limitations
as mas be imoosed in the Resolution creating such
special committee, and shall have such othe; and
additional powers and authority as may be delegated
to it by the Resolution creating the committee,
subject to the limitations of law". (Emphasis Added).
It is seen from Section 7 that special committees have
only the powers granted them by Resolution creating the committee
and the powers granted to standing committees. We have previously
shown that subpoena power is not conferred on the subject com-
mittee by the Resolution creating the committee. What are the
subpoena powers granted to standing committees under Article 5429f?
Section 5 of the statute provides as follows:
"Standing committees of each House of the Legis-
lature shall be and they are hereby charged with
Chairman of the Special House, page 5 (WW-1235)
the duty and responsibility of formulating legis-
lative programs, initiating,legislation, and making
inquiry into the administration and exeaution of
all laws pertaining to the matters within the
jurisdiction of such committee. Each standing com-
mittee shall make a continuing study of the matters
under its jurisdiction, as well asthe instrumen-
talities of government administering or executing
such matters, and shall conduct such investigations
as the committee deems n,ecessary to supply it with
adequate information and material to discharge'its
responsibilities. To~the extent that each standing
committee shall deem it 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 a part. 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 and to mobilize the efforts of
such committee to secure the enactment ,into law of
the proposals of such committee. No standing com-
mittee of either House of'the Legislature shall be
confined in its legislative endeavors to bills,
Resolutions or proposals submitted to it by in-
dividual Members of the Legislature, but each
standing committee shall have full authority and
responsibility to seek out problems within its
area of jurisdiction and to develop, formulate,
initiate and secure passage of legislative ,programs
which the committee deems desirable in its approach
to such problems".
Nowhere in Section 5 is any express grant of subpoena
powers made to standing committees. It is our opinion, more-
over, that such power cannot be said to arise by necessary im-
plication from the language of Section 5. This conclusion is
supported by the fact that the Legislature elsewhere in Article
5&2$X delegates to General Investigating Committees in plain
and unambiguous language the power to issue process and compel
the attendance of witnesses. It is thus seen that the Legis-
lature expressly delegated such authority where it wished to
confer this power on a committee. It may reasonably be pre-
sumed that the Legislature would have done so inequally clear
and unmistakable terms in the case of standing and special
committees had the Legislature desired to delegate such power
to those committees unconditionally. The validity of this con-
struction is further confirmed by the fact that the Legislature
Chairman of the Special House, page 6 (w-1235)
made provision for the compensationof witnesses attending ,pro-
ceedings of the General Investigating Committees under ,process,
but omitted such provision from the portions’of the statute
dealing with special’and standing committees. See Section 8(b)
(4) of Article 5429f.
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 an answer to your third
question in the negative.
In answer to your fourth question, any use 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 commands of 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,pon their request.
SUMMARY
The Legislature has given the subject com-
mittee the authority to request the described in-
formation by questionnaire but has not given it
authority to compel the production of such informa-
tion before the committee by subpoena and the com-
mittee cannot use or disclose such information as
is relinquished to the committee in response to such
subpoenas.
Very truly yours,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
“H:b$w*
Assistant Attorney General
h&h%?
Chairman of the Special House, page 7 (WW-1235)
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
W. V. Geppert, Chairman
Howard Mays
J. C. Davis
Bob Shannon
Riley Eugene Fletcher
REVIEWEDFOR THE ATTORNEYGENERkL
BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.