Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 99 Part 2.djvu/519

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PUBLIC LAW 99-000—MMMM. DD, 1985

PUBLIC LAW 99-198—DEC. 23, 1985

99 STAT. 1629

affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, take evidence, and require the production of any books, papers, and documents that are relevant to the inquiry. The attendance of witnesses and the production of records may be required from any place in the United States. In case of contumacy by, or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to, any person, including a handler, the Secretary may invoke the aid of any court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which such investigation or proceeding is carried on, or where such person resides or carries on business, in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents; and such court may issue an order requiring the person to appear before the Secretary, there to produce records, if so ordered, or to give testimony touching the matter under investigation. Any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the court as contempt thereof. All process in any such case may be served in the judicial district in which the person is an inhabitant or wherever the person may be found. The site of any hearing held under this subsection shall be within the judicial district in which the handler or other person is an inhabitant or in which the person's principal place of business is located. (b) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, papers, and documents before the Secretary, or in obedience to the subpoena of the Secretary, or in any cause or proceeding, criminal or otherwise, based on, or growing out of, any alleged violation of this subtitle, or of any plan or regulation issued thereunder, on the grounds that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of the person may tend to incriminate the person or subject the person to a penalty or forfeiture. However, no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which the person is compelled, after having claimed the person's privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that any individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.

Prohibition. Regulation.

REQUIREMENT OF REFERENDUM

SEC. 1653. The Secretary shall conduct a referendum among producers and handlers not exempt under sections 1643(5) and 1648(b) who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have been engaged in the production or handling of watermelons, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the issuance of a plan is approved or favored by producers and handlers. The referendum shall be conducted at the county extension offices. No plan issued under this subtitle shall be effective unless the Secretary determines that the issuance of the plan is approved or favored by not less than two-thirds of the producers and handlers voting in such referendum, or by the producers and handlers of not less than two-thirds of the watermelons produced and handled during the representative period by producers and handlers voting in such referendum, and by not less than a majority of the producers and a majority of the handlers voting in the referendum. The ballots and other information or reports that reveal or tend to reveal the vote of any producer or handler or the person's volume of watermelons produced or handled shall be held strictly confidential and shall not be disclosed. Any officer or employee of the Department of

Prohibition. 7 USC 4912. Ante, p. 1623. Ante, p. 1625.