House bill could grant AG subpoena power, possible reopening of Confide investigation

A House committee has the opportunity to advance a bill that would strengthen penalties for violating Sunshine law, as well as grant the Attorney General’s office the power to issue investigative subpoenas.

Two identical bills, labeled HB 2523 and 2524, will be heard by the General Laws committee Tuesday evening, which starts at 5 p.m. or later, according to the House website.

Representative David Gregory (R – St. Louis), sponsor of HB 2523, said the Attorney General’s office currently has limited power to gather evidence without filing a lawsuit, which can only be done if enough evidence has been gathered. Gregory said, “Right now the Attorney General is getting jammed up.”

“[HB 2523] heightens the investigative power of the Attorney General by providing them subpoena powers,” Gregory said. “It’s the difference between an incomplete investigation versus a very thorough, fair investigation.”

Gregory said the bill has received bipartisan support so far, and the only criticisms from the public hearing were to specific language rather than the bill’s substance. The bill could be passed or voted down by the committee. If passed, it would move to the House floor, and then to the Senate.

This comes after Attorney General Josh Hawley opened and closed an investigation into Governor Eric Greitens’ use of a secretive messaging app called “Confide” among members of his staff and others. Hawley’s investigation into whether or not public information was sent and later destroyed on the app finished early March.

The investigation found that Greitens violated no public records or Sunshine laws by using the app.

Parker Briden, Press Secretary for the governor, issued a statement when Hawley’s office closed the investigation that said, “The Governor’s Office has never used Confide or any similar application to evade state records laws.”

However, Hawley later said in a press conference that it’s possible his office will reopen the investigation if they are granted the ability to issue subpoenas, which is included in HB 2523 and 2524.

“If the legislature is willing to give us that authority, we will reopen the Confide investigation,” Hawley said in a March 23 press conference.

There is an ongoing lawsuit relating to Gov. Greitens’ use of Confide. For more information on that, you can click here.