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By BOB JOHNSON Associated Press Writer
Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 5:01 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 5:01 p.m.
The Alabama House passed a bill Thursday that would allow the state Ethics Commission to subpoena witnesses or records when investigating suspected ethics violations by public officials.
The House voted 93-1 for the bill, which has run into difficulties in previous legislative sessions.
Not being able to subpoena witnesses and records has handcuffed the ethics panel in past investigations, executive director Jim Sumner said after the vote.
"It's made us subject to a person or an office's willingness to cooperate with us. If a person is unwilling to give us a statement or meet with an investigator or provide us with documents, it really hampers or slows down the process," Sumner said.
The measure was sponsored by Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery. Republican Rep. Cam Ward of Alabaster was sponsoring a similar bill, but the Holmes' version was passed and sent to the Senate after Republicans agreed to support it.
Speaker Seth Hammett said he has wanted to give the ethics commission subpoena power since 1995, when he sponsored the last successful rewrite of the ethics law. He said he tried to include subpoena power in that rewrite, "but I couldn't get the votes to support it."
He said since then there have been a number of similar proposals, but he said the vote Thursday was the first time one of the bills had passed. He said he thought the key was that a Republican, Ward, and a Democrat, Holmes, agreed to work together.
"It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't get caught up in whose going to get credit," Hammett said.
The lone `no' vote was cast by state Rep. James Thomas, D-Selma, who said he didn't think the Ethics Commission needed subpoena power.
"I personally feel the power they currently posses is adequate," Thomas said.
Ward told House members he thinks it's crazy that the ethics commission has to depend on the cooperation of the people it is investigating, while other state agencies, like the Physical Therapy Board and the Real Estate Appraisers Board, can subpoena witnesses and records
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