Board Subpoena Power

PURPOSE: This rule establishes a procedure for the power, handling and disposition of subpoenas issued by the board, pursuant to the mandate of section 326.262, RSMo. (1) The board shall have the power to issue a subpoena or to summon as necessary for the attendance and testimony of any witness, and shall have the power to issue a subpoena duces tecum for the production of any book, paper, document, or thing. (2) The board as an administrative body having superintending control over the practice of public accounting in Missouri shall have the power of subpoena and this power of subpoena shall exist in all manner necessary with respect to complaints, investigations, disciplinary actions, or in the course of pursuing settlement. The board’s power of subpoena shall not be interpreted as superceding or removing the limitations set forth in section 326.289.13, RSMo. (3) In lieu of requiring attendance of a person to produce original documents in response to a subpoena duces tecum, the board may require sworn copies of such documents to be filed with it or delivered to its designated representative. (4) In the course of any board investigation of a licensee, the board may subpoena client work papers or client communications maintained by a licensee that relate to and are in connection with services rendered to the client by the licensee or, alternatively, are material to the defense of the licensee. (5) Information obtained by subpoena shall be considered a closed record of the board pursuant to 326.295, RSMo, unless otherwise provided by law, and except for use only in the proceeding of the matter for which such material was obtained. (6) The board may enforce its subpoenas, including subpoenas duces tecum, by applying to the circuit court of Cole County, the county of the investigation, hearing or proceeding, or any county where the person resides or may be found, for an order upon any person or firm who shall fail to obey a subpoena to show cause why such subpoena should not be enforced, which such order and a copy of the application therefore shall be served upon the person or firm in the same manner as a summons in a civil action, and if the circuit court shall, after a hearing, determine that the subpoena should be sustained and enforced, such court shall proceed to enforce the subpoena in the same manner as though the subpoena had been issued in a civil case in the circuit court. AUTHORITY: sections 326.262 and 326.268, RSMo Supp. 2005.* Original rule filed April 3, 2006, effective Nov. 30, 2006. *Original authority: 326.262, RSMo 2001 and 326.265, RSMo 2001.