RS 3:4229 Access to records; testimony; penalties - Louisiana Statutes

§4229.  Access to records; testimony; penalties

A.  The commissioner shall have access at all times:

(1)  To gather and compile information concerning and, to investigate from time to time the organization, business, conduct, practices and management of any person, firm, or corporation engaged in intrastate commerce, and the relation thereof to other persons, firms and corporations;

(2)  To require, by general or special orders, persons, firms and corporations engaged in intrastate commerce, or any class of them, or any of them to file with the commissioner, in such form as the commissioner may prescribe, annual or special, or both annual and special, reports or answers in writing, such reports and answers shall be made under oath, or otherwise, as the commissioner may prescribe, and shall be filed with the commissioner within such reasonable period as the commissioner may prescribe, unless additional time be granted in any case by the commissioner.

B.  For the purposes of this Chapter the commissioner shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documentary evidence of any person, firm or corporation being investigated or proceeded against.

C.  The commissioner is hereby authorized to petition any court of competent jurisdiction for writs of mandamus, commanding any person, firm or corporation to comply with the provisions of this Chapter or any order or regulation of the commissioner authorized by said Chapter, and/or for writ of injunction, restraining and enjoining any person, firm or corporation from violating this statute or any regulations promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to said statute.

D.  Any person, firm or corporation 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 Chapter, or that shall willfully make, or cause to be made, any false entry in any account, record, or memorandum kept by a person, firm or corporation subject to this Chapter, or that shall willfully neglect or fail to make, or cause to be made, full, true and correct entries in such accounts, records of memoranda, of all facts and transactions appertaining to the business of such person, firm or corporation, 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, firm or corporation, or that shall willfully refuse to submit to the commissioner or to his authorized agents, for the purpose of inspection and taking copies, any documentary evidence of any such person, firm or corporation in his possession or within his 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 less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

E.  If any person, firm or corporation required by this Chapter to file any annual or special report, fails to do so within the time fixed by the commissioner for filing same, and such failure shall continue for thirty days after notice of such default, such person, firm, or corporation shall be liable to be fined one hundred dollars for each day of such failure, each day being a separate offense.  It shall be the duty of the various district attorneys within the state to prosecute the offenses occurring within their respective parishes.

F.  Any officer or employee of this state who shall make public any information obtained, without the authority of the commissioner, unless directed by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for not more than five years, or both in the discretion of the court.

Acts 1968, No. 376, §27.  Amended by Acts 1970, No. 615, §1; Acts 1985, No. 73, §1.