Insurance commissioner's power to demand documents and testimony

(a) The commissioner, either on the commissioner's own behalf or on behalf of any interested party, may take depositions, and subpoena witnesses or documentary evidence. The commissioner may administer oaths, and examine under oath any individual relative to the affairs of any person being examined, or relative to the subject of any hearing or investigation. (b) The subpoena shall have the same force and effect and shall be served in the same manner as if issued from a court of record. (c) Witness fees and mileage, if claimed, shall be allowed the same as for testimony in a court of record. Witness fees, mileage, and the actual expense necessarily incurred in securing attendance of witnesses and their testimony shall be itemized, and shall be paid by the person as to whom the examination is being made, or by the person if other than the commissioner, at whose request the hearing is held. (d) When the commissioner, through the insurance fraud investigations branch, is conducting an investigation of possible violations of part IV, the commissioner shall pay to a financial institution that is served a subpoena issued under this section a fee for reimbursement of the costs that are necessary and which have been directly incurred in searching for, reproducing, or transporting books, papers, documents, or other objects designated by the subpoena. Reimbursement shall be paid at a rate not to exceed the rate set forth in section 28-2.5(d).