AUGUSTA, Maine — A legislative panel approved a proposal with several tweaks Wednesday that would grant subpoena power to the commission reviewing the Lewiston mass shooting after several Republican members sought a more extensive vetting process.
The bill backed by Democratic and Republican leaders now heads to the House and Senate for floor votes. The commission, which will hear Thursday from family members of victims of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting on record, would immediately receive subpoena power allowing it to compel witness testimony if two-thirds of lawmakers in each chamber approve it.
The Judiciary Committee voted 11-0 on Wednesday following hours of debate and private huddles among members. The commission is seeking to issue a final report on the Oct. 25 shooting that left 18 dead and 13 injured by late May, executive director Anne Jordan and commission chair Daniel Wathen said Wednesday.
Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn, led other Republican members in working to add a sunset provision that would require the commission to dissolve by July 1, require a report on the subpoena use after the commission completes its work and clarify this year’s process does not set a precedent for future commissions established by the executive branch.
Several Republicans, airing concerns similar to those last year over how Gov. Janet Mills did not appoint any lawmakers to the commission, also sought to require the Legislature’s oversight committee to sign off on any subpoena requests.
But that led to additional questions to Government Oversight Committee members Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, and Rep. Jessica Fay, D-Raymond, about how quickly they could handle requests. Fay said she and the government accountability office were surprised at getting brought into Wednesday’s debate.
“The public and the affected communities and the entire state, in my judgment, will not understand or appreciate any delays” caused by requiring another committee to handle, Rep. Stephen Moriarty, D-Cumberland, added.
Jordan said earlier this week the panel had already encountered people who refused to testify or were directed by superiors to not testify. On Wednesday, she said additional delays with subpoena power authority would hamper the panel and lead to extra hurdles if a subpoena request is challenged in court.
The commission needs the power as soon as possible, Jordan said, mentioning an unnamed Army reservist lives in New Hampshire. The commission wants to hear from the member because it believes the person has “significant information.”
Jordan also said the subpoena power would help the commission speak with other military members who may have had contact with Card in Maine before the shooting but not while they were on active duty. She added the panel is probing Card’s stay at a New York hospital over the summer and whether Maine or New York police received more information that could have led to a court order restricting Card’s access to personally-owned weapons.
Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey formed the seven-member commission to review the lead-up and police response to the Oct. 25 rampage at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar.
The subpoena power would let the commission require witnesses to testify, unless a witness or majority of the commission members decide to take the testimony during a private session. The commission could also request and receive records from any state agency deemed necessary to fulfill its fact-finding mission under the bill.
Witnesses may have attorneys on hand. Commissioners could also ask the Superior Court to compel compliance with a subpoena in any state, federal or military court or tribunal. Jordan has not identified particular people facing subpoenas but alluded to the U.S. Army, which has been invited to appear at a March 7 meeting of the commission.
The gunman, 40-year-old Robert Card II of Bowdoin, was an Army reservist whose military peers and family had reported concerns to police about his declining mental health and access to firearms in May and September. A third-party review found Army Reserve superiors downplayed warnings about Card’s threats to “shoot up” a Saco base and “other places.”
Maine’s “yellow flag” law that requires police to have a mental health professional and judge deem a person a danger to themselves or others before removing their access to guns has come under scrutiny since the mass shooting.
Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office personnel who took reports from family and peers about Card’s concerning behavior and conducted welfare checks at his home in the lead-up to the shooting appeared before the commission last week to explain how they felt they did all the yellow flag law allows them to do when responding to Card in May and September.
Mills, in her annual State of the State address Tuesday that focused heavily on the Lewiston shooting, proposed expanding background check requirements to advertised sales and letting police take people into protective custody under unusual circumstances.
