North Dakota Code 54-12-14 – Assets forfeiture fund – Created – Purpose – Continuing appropriation
1. The attorney general assets forfeiture fund consists of funds appropriated by the legislative assembly and additional funds obtained from moneys, assets, and proceeds seized and forfeited pursuant to section 19-03.1-36, amounts received through court proceedings as restitution, amounts remaining from the forfeiture of property after the payment of expenses for forfeiture and sale authorized by law, and amounts received from a multijurisdictional drug task force as defined in section 54-12-26. The amount of deposits into the fund which do not come from legislative appropriation or from a multijurisdictional drug task force and are not payable to another governmental entity may not exceed two hundred thousand dollars within a biennium and any moneys in excess of that amount must be deposited in the general fund. The funds are appropriated, as a standing and continuing appropriation, to the attorney general for the following purposes:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 54-12-14
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
a. For obtaining evidence for enforcement of any state criminal law or law relating to the control of drug abuse.
b. For repayment of rewards to qualified local programs approved under section 12.1-32-02.2, if the information that was reported to the qualified local program substantially contributed to forfeiture of the asset, and for paying, at the discretion of the attorney general, rewards for other information or assistance leading to a forfeiture under section 19-03.1-36.
c. For paying, at the discretion of the attorney general, any expenses necessary to seize, detain, inventory, safeguard, maintain, advertise, or sell property seized, detained, or forfeited pursuant to section 19-03.1-36, or of any other necessary expenses incident to the seizure, detention, or forfeiture of such property.
d. For equipping, for law enforcement functions, forfeited vessels, vehicles, and aircraft retained as provided by law for official use by the state board of pharmacy or a law enforcement agency.
e. For paying, at the discretion of the attorney general, overtime compensation to agents of the bureau of criminal investigation incurred as a result of investigations of violations of any state criminal law or law relating to the control of drug abuse.
f. For paying matching funds required to be paid as a condition for receipt of funds from a federal government program awarding monetary grants or assistance for the investigation, apprehension, or prosecution of persons violating the provisions of chapter 19-03.1.
2. The attorney general shall, with the concurrence of the director of the office of management and budget, establish the necessary accounting procedures for the use of the fund, and shall personally approve, in writing, all requests from the director of the bureau of criminal investigation or the director of the drug enforcement unit for the use of the fund.
3. Notwithstanding subsection 1, the amount of deposits into the fund related to human trafficking are appropriated, as a standing and continuing appropriation, to the attorney general for awarding grants to organizations providing prevention and treatment services for human trafficking victims.