Governor Calls House into Special Session to Address Subpoena Powers, Immunity Offers of Swallow Investigative Committee

On July 17, the Utah House will meet in a special session to, in the words of Speaker Becky Lockhart in a letter to legislators, “ensure that our new investigative committee has all the tools needed to conduct a thorough and fair investigation of the allegations surrounding the state’s Attorney General.”

In other words, the House is sharpening the tools its special investigative committee will need to look into the allegations against John Swallow.

Among the changes in the bills, a technical revision to state law will allow the legislature to hire out-of-state counsel, necessary if the Utah House accepts a bid for the investigation that is not Utah based. With major donors to the Swallow campaign for AG in 2012 coming from many of the large Utah law firms, choosing an out-of-state attorney or firm for the investigation is becoming more likely.

In her notice to Utah House members, Lockhart acknowledges the short timing and provides for two agenda items:

“First, technical changes — specifically ensuring that subpoena powers and offers of immunity work hand-in-hand. There is also a minor word change to ensure we can use special counsel from outside the state if we so choose. Those changes are easily addressed.”
“The second set of changes address a more sensitive subject matter: open meetings and records access. The committee needs certain records and open meetings exemptions to properly conduct interviews and gather information. These powers are essentially the same as afforded any investigation into sensitive matters. Remember, we have never created such a committee and therefore the statutes have not included references to a Legislative Investigative Committee.”

Lockhart notes that the House has been in close discussion with the Utah Media Coalition and Utah Press Association, and open records attorneys Jeff Hunt and Michael O’Brien to craft the bill that will be addressed on July 17th.

The date was chosen for convenience and because there is no interim meeting in August. Lockhart says that calling it now will save $30,000.

The two bills, embedded below, will be sponsored by Majority Leader Brad Dee. Lockhart will also announce the members of the investigative committee at that time.

LEGISLATIVE INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

Bill 1 PRACTICING LAW WITHOUT A LICENSE AMENDMENTS