19. Attendance of witnesses and their fees. 1. The commission shall have power to issue subpoenas and subpoena duces tecum. All subpoenas shall be signed and issued by a commissioner, by an officer or employee of the commission specially authorized to conduct an investigation or hearing or by the secretary or assistant secretary of the commission. The fees of witnesses required to attend before the commission, or a commissioner, or an officer or employee specially authorized to conduct an investigation or hearing, shall be the same as in the case of a subpoena issued out of a court of record, and paid when the witness is excused from further attendance. Except as is herein provided subpoenas shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules. Whenever a subpoena is issued at the instance of a complainant, respondent, or other party to any proceeding before the commission, the cost of service thereof and the fee of the witness shall be borne by the party at whose instance the witness is summoned.
2. If a person subpoenaed to attend before the commission or a commissioner, or an officer or employee specially authorized to conduct an investigation or hearing, fails to obey the command of such subpoena, without reasonable cause, or if a person in attendance before the commission or commissioner, or an officer or employee specially authorized to conduct an investigation or hearing, shall, without reasonable cause, refuse to be sworn or to be examined or to answer a question or to produce a book or papers, when ordered so to do by the commission, or a commissioner, or an officer or employee specially authorized to conduct an investigation or hearing, or to subscribe and swear to his deposition after it has been correctly reduced to writing, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be prosecuted therefor in any court of competent criminal jurisdiction.
Last modified: February 3, 2019