Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday released legislation that will give subpoena power to the commission investigating the Lewiston shootings.
The bill is sponsored by Democratic and Republican legislative leaders and is designed to give the seven-member commission the ability to compel witness testimony and documents as it reviews the events before, during and after the worst mass shooting in state history.
The proposal is drafted as an emergency and will require two-thirds support in the House and Senate to take effect immediately after the governor signs it.
The commission was created by Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey in November to resolve questions from a tragedy that killed 18 people and injured more than a dozen others.
The panel has not met since its first meeting in November, but has recently scheduled a slate of hearings that begin Thursday morning with members of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Department.
The sheriff's department has been under scrutiny because it had been warned about the shooter's deteriorating mental health and violent threats, but did not detain him or confiscate his weapons during a welfare check at his home weeks before the shootings.
The commission meeting begins Thursday at 9 a.m.
