Tennessee § 2-18-109 - Powers and duties of committee.

§ 2-18-109. Powers and duties of committee.

The objections, petitions and answers shall be referred to the committee. The committee shall take evidence and consider the objections. The committee and any subcommittee of it may: Send for and examine persons and papers; Issue compulsory process for them running to every county in the state, which may be executed by the sergeant-at-arms of either house or any assistant sergeant-at-arms, or by any sheriff, deputy sheriff, or constable, or by any special agent appointed by the chair of the committee or by the chair of any subcommittee; Punish for contempt by fine and imprisonment; Employ stenographers; Sit for the taking of evidence at any place in Tennessee and, when in their judgment necessary, in four (4) subcommittees; Take depositions upon such notice and under such rules and regulations as they may prescribe in the absence of rules prescribed by the general assembly; Fix the time in which the evidence in chief and rebuttal shall be produced or taken and the time for argument; and Do all things proper and necessary to ascertain the facts and report on them. The evidence shall be taken within the forty (40) days next after the issues are made except that, if within forty (40) days the committee on the governor's election asks for further time, the general assembly may grant it. Acts 1972, ch. 740, § 1; 1978, ch. 754, § 17; T.C.A., § 2-1809.