ORS 697.732 Examinations; investigations; costs; access; public disclosure requirements and exemptions

To enforce the provisions of ORS 697.612 and 697.642 to 697.702, the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may:

Examine a debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 and the debt management service provider’s or the person’s accounts for the purpose of investigating a violation of ORS 697.642 to 697.702.

Undertake an investigation, including an investigation outside this state, that the director considers necessary to:

Determine whether a debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 violated, is violating or is about to violate ORS 697.612 or 697.642 to 697.702 or a rule the director adopted under ORS 697.632; or

Aid in enforcing the provisions of ORS 697.612 and 697.642 to 697.702 and in formulating rules for adoption under ORS 697.632.

Require a debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 to file a written statement, under oath or otherwise, that addresses a matter the director is investigating.

Administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel the witnesses to attend, take evidence and require a person that the director is investigating to produce books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, agreements or other documents or records that the director deems relevant or material to the investigation. A witness who appears before the director under a subpoena shall receive the fees and mileage described in ORS 44.415 (2).

Charge and require a debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 to pay for the reasonable cost of an examination or investigation conducted under this section in an amount the director specifies.

If a person does not comply with a subpoena that the director issues under this section, a circuit court in this state upon the director’s application shall begin contempt proceedings to compel compliance in the same manner in which the court would compel compliance with a subpoena in a civil action.

A debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 shall provide the director for the purpose of investigating a violation of ORS 697.612 or 697.642 to 697.702 with free access to the debt management service provider’s or the person’s offices, places of business, books, accounts, records, papers, files, safes and vaults.

The director shall maintain for public inspection a record of any order the director issued that:

Suspended, revoked or refused to renew a person’s registration as a debt management service provider; or

Imposed a civil penalty under ORS 697.832.

The record that the director maintains of the director’s order shall show:

The form of the order that the director issued;

The name of the person that is the subject of the order; and

The grounds for the action that the director took in the order.

The director shall maintain as a public record any notice or other information that indicates that a collection on a deposit or on the bond required under ORS 697.642 has occurred.

Except as provided in this subsection, records, reports and other information that the director receives or compiles as a result of an investigation conducted under this section are exempt from the disclosure required under ORS 192.314.