How testimony is recorded and handled at hearings

(a) An investigating committee shall cause a record to be made of all proceedings in which testimony or other evidence is demanded or adduced, which record shall include rulings of the chair, questions of the committee and its staff, the testimony or responses of witnesses, sworn written statements submitted to the committee, and such other matters as the committee or its chair may direct. (b) All testimony given or adduced at a hearing shall be under oath or affirmation, unless the requirement is dispensed with in a particular instance by majority vote of the committee members present at the hearing. (c) The presiding officer of either the council or of an investigating committee may administer an oath or affirmation to a witness at a hearing of such committee. (d) The presiding officer at a hearing may direct a witness to answer any relevant question or furnish any relevant book, paper, or other document, the production of which has been required by subpoena duces tecum. Unless the direction is overruled by majority vote of the committee members present, disobedience shall constitute a contempt. The proper court, upon request of the council, shall have power to compel obedience to any process of the council and require such witness to answer questions put to such person and to punish as contempt of the court, any refusal to comply therewith without good cause shown therefor. (e) A witness at a hearing or such person’s counsel, with the consent of a majority of the committee members present at the hearing, may file with the committee for incorporation into the record of the hearing sworn written statements relevant to the purpose, subject matter, and scope of the committee’s investigation or inquiry. (f) A witness at a hearing, upon such person’s advance request and at such person’s own expense, shall be furnished a certified transcript of the person’s testimony at the hearing. (g) Testimony and other evidence given or adduced at a hearing closed to the public shall not be made public unless authorized by majority vote of all of the members of the committee, which authorization shall also specify the form and manner in which the testimony or other evidence may be released. (h) All information of a defamatory or highly prejudicial nature received by or for the committee other than in an open or closed hearing shall be confidential. No such information shall be made public unless authorized by majority vote of all of the members of the committee for legislative purposes, or unless its use is required for judicial purposes. )