2018 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 2. Agriculture
§2-6-271. Powers of Board - Penalties.

A. The Board shall also have power:

1. to require the keeping of adequate records and the furnishing of such information upon request to the Board which is necessary and essential for the administration of this act. Failure to keep such records and furnish such information shall constitute a misdemeanor;

2. to gather and compile information concerning and to investigate from time to time the organization, business, conduct, practices, and management of any person engaged in intrastate commerce, and the relation thereof to other persons; B. 1. For the purposes of this act the Board shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documentary evidence of any person being investigated or proceeded against, and may require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all documentary evidence of any person relating to any matter under investigation. The Board may sign subpoenas and may administer oaths and affirmation, examine witnesses, and receive evidence.

2. Such attendance of witnesses, and the production of such documentary evidence, may be required at any designated place of hearing. In case of disobedience to a subpoena the Board may invoke the aid of any court designated in Section 20 of this act in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence.

3. Any of the courts designated in Section 20 of this act within the jurisdiction of which such inquiry is carried on may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person, issue an order requiring such person to appear before the Board or to produce documentary evidence if so ordered, or to give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.

4. Upon the application of the Attorney General of this state at the request of the Board, the district court shall have jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus commanding any person to comply with the provisions of this act or any order of the Board made in pursuance thereof.

5. The Board may order testimony to be taken by deposition in any proceeding or investigation pending under this act at any stage of such proceeding or investigation. Such depositions may be taken before any person designated by the Board and having power to administer oaths. Such testimony shall be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition or under his direction and shall then be subscribed by the deponent. Any person may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the Board as hereinbefore provided.

6. Witnesses summoned before the Board shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of this state, and witnesses whose depositions are taken and the persons taking the same shall severally be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in such courts.

C. 1. It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to willfully neglect or refuse to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry, or to produce documentary evidence, if in his or its power to do so, in obedience to the subpoena or lawful requirement of the Board.

2. Any person that shall willfully make, or cause to be made, any false entry or statement of fact in any report required to be made under this act, or that shall willfully make, or cause to be made, any false entry in any account, record, or memorandum kept by any person subject to this act, or that shall willfully neglect or fail to make, or to cause to be made, full, true, and correct entries in such accounts, records, or memoranda, of all facts and transactions appertaining to the business of any person subject to this act, or that shall willfully remove out of the jurisdiction of this state, or willfully mutilate, alter or by any other means falsify any documentary evidence of any such person, or that shall willfully refuse to submit to the Board or to any of its authorized agents, for the purpose of inspection and taking copies, any documentary evidence of any person subject to this act in his or its possession or within his or its control, shall be deemed guilty of an offense and shall be subject, upon conviction in any court of competent jurisdiction, to a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one (1) year, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

3. Any officer or employee of this state who shall make public any information obtained by the Board without its authority, unless directed by a court, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Laws 1970, c. 260, § 21, emerg. eff. April 22, 1970.