Oklahoma 2024 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB3777 Latest Draft

Bill / Engrossed Version Filed 04/23/2024

                             
 
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ENGROSSED SENATE AMENDMENTS 
TO 
ENGROSSED HOUSE 
BILL NO. 3777 	By: Duel, Davis, and Lowe 
(Jason) of the House 
 
  and 
 
  Howard of the Senate 
 
 
 
An Act relating to criminal procedure; specifying 
requirements for issuing criminal subpoenas; 
requiring witnesses to attend trials or hearings upon 
service of *** period for submitting written 
objections; providing procedures for serving  written 
objections; allowing *** provision; providing for 
codification; and providing an effective date . 
 
 
 
AMENDMENT NO. 1. Page 5, line 14, strike after the word “to” and 
before the letter “C.”, the words “appear before”, 
and insert the words “ (appear before) or (produce 
for inspection to)” 
 
AMENDMENT NO. 2. Page 7, line 1, insert after the word “ deposition” 
and before the first c omma “,”, the words 
“pursuant to Section 761 et seq. of this title ” 
   
 
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Passed the Senate the 22nd day of April, 2024. 
 
 
  
 	Presiding Officer of the Senate 
 
 
Passed the House of Representatives the ____ day of __________, 
2024. 
 
 
  
 	Presiding Officer of the H ouse 
 	of Representatives   
 
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ENGROSSED HOUSE 
BILL NO. 3777 	By: Duel, Davis, and Lowe 
(Jason) of the House 
 
  and 
 
  Howard of the Senate 
 
 
 
 
 
An Act relating to criminal procedure; specifying 
requirements for issuing criminal subpoenas; 
requiring witnesses t o attend trials or hearings upon 
service of subpoenas; allowing court clerks and 
attorneys to issue subpoenas; directing issuers of 
subpoenas to avoid imposing undue burden or expense 
on persons subject to subpoenas; requiring courts to 
enforce said duty; providing for sanctions; allowing 
courts to quash or modify subpoenas under cert ain 
circumstances; declaring subpoenas separate and 
distinct from certain rights or obligations; amending 
22 O.S. 2021, Sections 708, 710, 712, 715 and 716, 
which relate to the service and issuance of 
subpoenas; updating statutory references and form 
requirements; providing guidelines and requirements 
for issuing subpoenas requesting the production of 
documents or inspection of premises; allowing for the 
nonappearance of persons unless commanded to appear; 
authorizing service of written objections to 
subpoenas; establishing time period for submitting 
written objections; providing procedures for serving 
written objections; allowing parties to move for 
orders to compel production; providing requirements 
for producing documents; providing guidelines for 
claims of privilege or protection of trial 
preparation materials; clarifying processes for 
serving subpoenas in person and by mail; modifying 
exemption to subpoena requirement for court clerks; 
clarifying criminal contempt penalty provision; 
providing for codification; and providing an 
effective date. 
 
 
 
   
 
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: 
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codifie d 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 707.1 of Title 22, unless there 
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as foll ows: 
A.  A subpoena issued on behalf of or by a defendant to a law 
enforcement agency may comman d the production of the follow ing law 
enforcement records:  
1.  Body camera videos; 
2.  Vehicle mounted camera videos; 
3.  Traffic camera videos; and  
4.  Law enforcement incident reports.  
B.  A law enforcement agency may charge a record copying fee of 
not more than One Dollar ($1.00) per page and a video copying fee of 
not more than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per video when complying with 
the requests of the subpoe na.  
SECTION 2.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 707.2 of Title 22, unless there 
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: 
A.  Every subpoena issued on behalf of or by a defendant shall 
state the name of the court from which it is issued and the title of 
the action. 
B. A witness shall be obligated up on service of a subpoena to 
attend a trial or hearing at any place within the state .   
 
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C.  The court clerk shall issue a subpoena, or a subpoena for 
the production of doc umentary evidence, signed and sealed but 
otherwise in blank, to a party requesting it, w ho shall complete the 
subpoena before service.  As an officer of the court, an attorney 
authorized to practice law in this state may also issue and sign a 
subpoena on behalf of a court in this state. 
SECTION 3.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 707.3 of Title 22, unless there 
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: 
A party or an attorn ey responsible for the is suance and service 
of a subpoena shall take reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue 
burden or expense on a person subject to that subpoena. The court 
on behalf of which the subpoe na was issued shall enforce this duty 
and impose upon the party or attorney , or both, in breach of this 
duty an appropriate sanction, whic h may include, but is not limited 
to, lost earnings and a reasonable attorney fee. 
SECTION 4.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Sec tion 707.4 of Title 22, unless there 
is created a duplication i n numbering, reads as follows: 
A.  On timely motion, the court by which a subpoena was issued 
shall quash or modify th e subpoena if it: 
1.  Fails to allow reasonable ti me for compliance; 
2.  Requires a person to trave l to a place beyond the limits of 
the county where the person resides or is served with the subpoena;   
 
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3.  Requires disclosure of privileged or other protecte d matter 
and no exception or waiver app lies; 
4.  Subjects a person to undue burden; or 
5.  Requires production of books, papers, documents , or tangible 
things that fall outside the scope of discovery permitted by Section 
3226 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes. 
B.  If a subpoena: 
1.  Requires disclosure of a trade secret or oth er confidential 
research, development, or commercial informatio n; or 
2.  Requires disclosure of the opinion of an unretained expert 
or information not describing specific events or occurrences in 
dispute and resulting from the study by the expert made not at the 
request of any party, the court may, to protect a person subject to 
or affected by the subpoena, quash or modify the subpoena.  However, 
if the party in whose behalf the subp oena is issued shows a 
substantial need for the te stimony or material that cannot be 
otherwise met without undue hardship and assures that the person to 
whom the subpoena is addressed will be reasonably compensated, the 
court may order appearance or produc tion only upon specified 
conditions. 
SECTION 5.     NEW LAW   A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statut es as Section 707.5 of Title 22, unless there 
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:   
 
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Subpoenas issued in accordance with the provisions of Sections 
707.1 through 707.3, 708, 7 10 and 712 of Title 22 of the Oklahoma 
Statutes shall be considered separate and distinct from any right or 
obligation provided for in Section 2002 of Title 22 of the Oklahoma 
Statutes. 
SECTION 6.     AMENDATORY    22 O.S. 2021, Section 708, is 
amended to read as follows: 
Section 708. A subpoena, authorized by the last four sections 
provisions of Sections 704, 705, 706, 707, and 707.1 of this title, 
must be substantially in the following form: 
IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF 
OKLAHOMA. 
To .........  , 
Greeting:  You are commanded to appear before C. D., a justice 
of the peace of ........ at ....... (or the grand jury of the county 
County of ......... or the district cou rt of ......... county 
County, or other location as the case may be specified), on the 
........ (stating day and h our), and remain in attendance on and 
call of said ........ from day to day and term to term until 
lawfully discharged, as a witness in a crim inal action prosecuted by 
the State of Oklahoma ag ainst E. F. (or to testify a s the case may 
be). 
SECTION 7.     AMENDATORY     22 O.S. 2021, Section 710, is 
amended to read as follows:   
 
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Section 710. A. If the books, papers or docume nts be required, 
a direction to the following effect m ust be continued in the 
subpoena: 
And you are required also to bring with you the following: 
(Describe intelligently the books, papers or d ocuments required). 
B. A copy of any subpoena that commands prod uction of documents 
and things or inspection of prem ises before trial shall be s erved on 
each party in the manner prescr ibed by subsection B of Section 2005 
of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Stat utes.  If the subpoena commands 
production of documents and things or inspection of premises from a 
nonparty before trial but does not require atte ndance of a witness, 
the subpoena shall specify a date and location for the production or 
inspection that is at least seven (7) days after the date that the 
subpoena and copies of the subpoena are served on the witness and 
all parties, and the subpoena sha ll include the following language: 
"In order to allow objections to the production of documents and 
things to be filed, you should not produce them until the date 
specified in this subpoena, and if an objection is filed, until t he 
court rules on the object ion." 
C.  A person commanded to produce and permit inspection, 
copying, testing or sampling of designated books, papers, documents, 
electronically stored information or tangibl e things, or inspection 
of premises need not appear in person at the place of pr oduction or   
 
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inspection unless commanded to appear for deposition, hearing, or 
trial. 
D.  Subject to subsection F of this section, a person commanded 
to produce and permit inspec tion, copying, testing or sampling , or 
any party may, within fourteen (14) days after service of the 
subpoena or before t he time specified for compliance if such time is 
less than fourteen (14) days after service, serve written objection 
to inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of any or all of the 
designated materials or of the premises, or to producing 
electronically stored information in the form or forms requested.  
An objection that all or a portion of the requested material will or 
should be withheld on a claim that it is privileged or subject to 
protection as trial preparat ion materials shall be made within this 
time period and in accordance with subsections E and F of this 
section.  If the objection is made by the witness, the witness shall 
serve the objection on all parties; if objection is made by a party, 
the party shall serve the objection on the witness and all other 
parties.  If objection is made, the party serving the subpoena shall 
not be entitled to inspect, copy, test , or sample the materials or 
inspect the premises except pursuant to an order of the court by 
which the subpoena was issued.  For failure to object in a timely 
fashion, the court may assess reasonable costs and attorney fees or 
take any other action it deems proper; however, a privilege or the 
protection for trial preparation materials shall not be waiv ed   
 
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solely for a failure to timely object und er this section.  If 
objection has been made, the party serving the subpoena may, upon 
notice to the person commanded to produce, move at any time for an 
order to compel the production .  Such an order to compel p roduction 
shall protect any person who is no t a party or an officer of a party 
from significant expense resulting from the inspection and copying 
commanded. 
E. 1. A person responding to a subpoena to produce documents 
shall produce them as they are kept in the usual course of business 
or shall organize and label them to correspond with the categories 
in the demand. 
2.  If a subpoena does not specify the form or forms for 
producing electronically stored information, a person res ponding to 
a subpoena shall produce the information in a form or forms in which 
the person ordinarily maintains it or in a form or forms that are 
reasonably usable. 
3.  A person responding to a subpoena is not required to produce 
the same electronically st ored information in more tha n one form. 
4.  A person responding to a subpoena is not required to provide 
discovery of electronically stored information from sources that the 
person identifies as not reasona bly accessible because of undue 
burden or cost.  If such showing is made, the court may order 
discovery from such sources if the requesting party shows good 
cause, considering the limitations of subparagraph c of paragraph 2   
 
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of subsection B of Section 3226 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma 
Statutes.  The court may specify conditions for t he discovery. 
F.  1. When information subje ct to a subpoena is withheld on a 
claim that it is privileged or subject to protection as trial 
preparation materials, the claim shall be made expressly and shall 
be supported by a des cription of the nature of th e documents, 
communications, or things not p roduced that is sufficient to enable 
the demanding party to contest the claim. 
2.  If information is produced in response to a subpoen a that is 
subject to a claim or privilege or of pr otection as trial 
preparation material, the person making the claim may notify any 
party that received the information of the claim and the basis for 
such claim.  After being notified, a party shall promptl y return, 
sequester, or destroy the specified info rmation and any copies the 
party has and may not use or disclose the inf ormation until the 
claim is resolved.  A receiving party may promptly present the 
information to the court under seal for a determinat ion of the 
claim.  If the receiving party disclose d the information before 
being notified, such party shall take reasonable step s to retrieve 
the information.  The person who produced the information shall 
preserve the information until the claim is resolv ed.  This 
mechanism is procedural only and does no t alter the standards 
governing whether the information is privileged or subje ct to   
 
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protection as trial preparation material or whether such privilege 
or protection has been waived. 
SECTION 8.     AMENDATORY     22 O.S. 2021, Section 712, is 
amended to read as follo ws: 
Section 712. A.  Service of subpoenas for witnesses in criminal 
actions in the district courts of this state a subpoena upon a 
person named therein shall be made in the same manner as in civil 
actions pursuant to Section 20 04.1 of Title 12 of the Okla homa 
Statutes by delivering or mailing a copy ther eof to such person and, 
if the attendance of the person is demanded, by tendering to that 
person the fees for one ( 1) day of attendance and the mileage 
allowed by law.  Service of a subpoena may be accompli shed by any 
person who is eighteen (18) years of a ge or older. 
B. Service of a subpoena by mail may be accomplished by mailing 
a copy thereof by certified mail with return receipt requested and 
delivery restricted to the person named in the subpoena. The person 
serving the subpoena shal l make proof of service thereof to the 
court promptly, and in any event, before the witness is required to 
testify at the hearing or trial.  If service is made by a person 
other than a peace officer, such person shall make affidavit 
thereof.  If service is by mail, the per son serving the subpoena 
shall show in the proof of service the date and place of mailing and 
attach a copy of the return receipt showing that the mailing was 
accepted.  Failure to make proof of service doe s not affect the   
 
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validity of the service, but serv ice of a subpoena by mail shall not 
be effective if the mailing was not accepted by the person named in 
the subpoena. The cost costs of service of subpoenas shall be borne 
by the parties unless otherwise o rdered by the court allowed whether 
service is made by a peace officer or any other person. 
SECTION 9.     AMENDATORY     22 O.S. 2021, Section 715, is 
amended to read as follows: 
Section 715. A.  No person is obliged to attend as a wit ness 
before a court or magistrate outside the coun ty where the witness 
resides or is served with a subpoena, unless the judge of the court 
in which the offense is triable, upon an affidavit of the district 
attorney, or of the def endant or the defendant 's counsel, stating 
that he or she believes that the e vidence and attendance of the 
witness is material and necessary, shall endorse on the subpoe na an 
order for the attendance of the witness. 
B.  The court clerks of this state shall not be subject to 
subpoena in matters relating to court records unless the court makes 
a specific finding that the appearance and testimony of the court 
clerk are both material and necessary because of a w ritten objection 
to the introduction of certified documents court records made by the 
defendant or other party prior to trial. 
SECTION 10.    AMENDATORY     22 O.S. 2021, Section 716, is 
amended to read as follows:   
 
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Section 716. Disobedience or failure by any person without 
adequate excuse to obey a subpoena served upon himself or herself, 
or a refusal to be sworn or to testify, may be punished by the court 
or magistrate, as for deemed a criminal contempt, in the manner 
provided in civil procedure of the court from which the subpoena was 
issued. 
SECTION 11.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2024. 
 
Passed the House of Representatives the 14th day of March, 2024. 
 
 
 
  
 	Presiding Officer of the House 
 	of Representatives 
 
 
Passed the Senate the ___ day of __________, 2024. 
 
 
 
  
 	Presiding Officer of the Senate