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![handle is hein.sag/sagsc0161 and id is 1 raw text is:
ALAN WILSON
ATrOPNEY GENERAL January 4, 2019
The Honorable Marvin Pendarvis, Esquire
S.C. House of Representatives
328-A Blatt Building
Columbia, SC 29201
Dear Representative Pendarvis:
This Office received your letter dated December 4, 2018 requesting a legal opinion. The
following is this Office's understanding of your first question and our opinion based on that
understanding.
Issue (as quoted from your letter, noting the second issue will be answered in a separate legal opinion):
1 have recently been appointed chair of an ad hoc committee of the Charleston County Legislative
Delegation to investigate a personnel matter within the Charleston County School District. Do I have
subpoena powers that would enable me to compel persons to testify and documents to be turned over? If
not, what other mechanisms do I have at my disposal to achieve the same?
Law/Analysis:
This Office recognizes that South Carolina law grants even' standing committee of the Senate
and of the House of Representatives, in the discharge of its duties authority by majority vote of the
committee to issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum to any agency, department, board or
commission of this State or of any political subdivision of this State or to any representative of any
agency, department, board, or commission of this State or of any political subdivision of this State to
compel the attendance of witnesses and production of documents, books, papers, correspondence,
memoranda, and other relevant records to its work, investigation, or study. S.C. Code Ann. § 2-69-10
(emphasis added); see also S.C. Code Ann. § 2-2-50. Additionally, standing committees of the South
Carolina Senate and of the House of Representatives are authorized to issue a subpoena and a subpoena
duces tecum on behalf of any subcommittee or joint study committee. Id.; S.C. Code Ann. § 2-69-20,-30,
-40. Every subpoena must be signed by either the President Pro Tempore of the Senate or the Speaker of
the House of Representatives depending on the committee requesting the subpoena or must be approved
by a majority vote of the chamber issuing the subpoena. S.C. Code Ann. § 2-69-40. In 1975 this Office
was asked to opine on a similar question and stated as follows:
[T]he position of this office has been that the subpoena-contempt power must be
specifically granted to the committee in question before it can be exercised. Such a
view is based on the fact that certain legislative committees have been granted
such powers explicitly, while others have not. Such a practice indicates tacit
recognition by the legislature that the powers of subpoena-contempt should be
expressly delegated to a committee where such a committee is intended to possess
these powers. Also, in the cases recognizing a committee's subpoena-contempt
R[IBERTC. DENNIs BUILDING . POSTOr-FICE BoxI1549 - COLUMBIA, SC 29211-1549 . TELEPHONE803-734-3970 - FACSIMILE 803-253-6283](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagsc0161&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)