North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 10 - Attorney General › Article 10-01 - Organization › Chapter 10-01-01 - General Administration › Section 10-01-01-01 - Organization of office of attorney general

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
1.
History
. The attorney general
				is a constitutional officer whose duties are primarily legal in nature. The
				office is not, for most purposes, an administrative agency. However, the
				legislative assembly has determined that certain licensing functions should be
				under the administration of the attorney general and some of these functions
				involve the adoption of rules pursuant to the Administrative Agencies Practice
				Act, North Dakota Century Code chapter 28-32.
The attorney general is the constitutionally elected head of
				  the office of attorney general. The office includes a general counsel,
				  assistant attorneys general, investigators, licensing regulators, accountants,
				  training officers, statisticians, and other necessary support staff. Some state
				  agencies have legal counsel with the title of special assistant attorney
				  general who are paid by the employing agency but appointed by the attorney
				  general and are legally responsible to the attorney general.
2.
Divisions and functions
. The
				office of attorney general of the state of North Dakota is divided into the
				divisions described in this subsection. The organization by divisions provides
				for supervision at a lower level and allows all of the portfolios to be
				assigned on a centralized basis rather than by individual subject matter or
				attorney.
Each division is headed by a director appointed by the
				  attorney general. The director of each division is the primary contact person
				  for that division and is responsible for the overall management of the
				  division.
The office includes the following divisions :
a. Attorney general administration division.
				The attorney general division includes the attorney general, the chief deputy
				attorney general, an executive assistant, and a public information officer for
				the office of the attorney general. The executive assistant may serve also as
				the public information officer. The division is primarily responsible for
				executive staff management, the agency's human resources requirements,
				constituent resources, and serves as a liaison with the legislative assembly
				and elected officials.
b. Finance
				and administration division. The finance and administration division is
				responsible for supervising office financial and administrative functions. This
				division handles office budget matters, bill payments, data and word processing
				duties, and procurement and support staff duties.
c. State and local government division. The
				state and local government division is responsible for the successful and
				timely preparation, coordination, and distribution of a broad range of legal
				services to state agencies, and professional and occupational boards and has
				primary responsibility for all attorney general's opinions and letter
				responses.
Attorneys assigned to the division are responsible for
				  providing the necessary legal advice and assistance to state governmental
				  agencies, including the university system, and occupational and licensing
				  boards served by the division. When agencies or occupational and licensing
				  boards represented by the state and local government division become involved
				  in civil or administrative litigation, the state and local government division
				  coordinates the litigation with the civil litigation division .
The state and local government division also responds to
				  law-related questions from city attorneys and state's attorneys on noncriminal
				  matters.
d. Criminal and
				regulatory division. The criminal and regulatory division is responsible for
				the administration and enforcement laws dealing with alcoholic beverage
				licensing, tobacco licensing, gaming licensing, polygraph examiners licensing,
				and transient merchant licensing. The attorneys assigned to this division
				provide legal assistance to the divisions of the office of attorney general
				involved in charitable gaming, sex offender and felony crimes against children
				registration, and concealed weapons licenses. Attorneys assigned to the
				criminal and regulatory division are responsible for meeting the office's
				responsibilities to the state crime laboratory, the peace officer standards and
				training board, the parole board and pardon advisory board, and state law
				enforcement agencies, including the bureau of criminal investigation, North
				Dakota highway patrol, and the North Dakota department of corrections and
				rehabilitation. The criminal and regulatory division assists state's attorneys
				in criminal prosecutions, state and federal post-conviction cases, and also
				assists the United States attorney's office in drug prosecutions, and for other
				issues relating to the enforcement of the criminal law. The attorneys also
				represent the attorney general's office with the state child protection team,
				the child fatality review panel, the domestic violence fatality review panel,
				the human trafficking commission, the task force on substance exposed newborns,
				and the sexual assault evidence collection protocol committee.
e. Civil litigation division. The civil
				litigation division is supervised by the solicitor general and is responsible
				for the overall coordination of all civil litigation and all civil appellate
				cases involving or affecting the state of North Dakota. The civil litigation
				division's responsibilities include:
(1)
				Civil litigation brought against the state, state agencies, state officials,
				and state employees , except natural resources and Indian affairs
				litigation.
(2) Representation of
				agencies at administrative hearings , except natural resources and Indian
				affairs, gaming, liquor licensing, and consumer protection hearings.
(3) Appeals to state and federal courts ,
				except appeals involving cases in natural resources and Indian affairs, gaming,
				liquor licensing, consumer protection, and state and federal post-conviction
				cases.
(4) Debt collection and
				foreclosures.
(5) Representing and
				advising state agencies with regard to personnel-related questions and
				litigation.
It is the solicitor general's responsibility to oversee cases
				  involving or affecting the state of North Dakota so the attorney general may be
				  kept informed of the status of such cases. Finally, the solicitor general is
				  responsible for reviewing requests to the state of North Dakota to join other
				  states in state and federal courts as amicus curiae when requested by other
				  states.
f.
				Natural resources and Indian affairs division. The natural resources and Indian
				affairs division is responsible for legal issues involving agriculture, water,
				oil and gas, the land department, environmental law, the game and fish
				department, the parks and recreation department, and Indian law. The division's
				duties include litigation and appeals in these areas, environmental law
				enforcement, and the preparation of attorney general opinions and letter
				responses concerning natural resources, agriculture, and Indian
				affairs.
g. Bureau of criminal
				investigation. The bureau of criminal investigation is the state criminal
				investigative agency that responds to requests from sheriffs, chiefs of police,
				prosecutors, judges, and public officials for assistance in criminal
				investigations. The bureau is involved in the investigation, arrest, detection,
				prosecution, or suppression of crimes when directed by the attorney general.
				The bureau of criminal investigation also participates in the drug task forces
				and cooperates with and assists federal law enforcement agencies and cooperates
				with and assists the federal bureau of investigation and similar law
				enforcement agencies in other states in carrying on a complete system of
				criminal identification. In addition, the bureau of criminal investigation
				works with all North Dakota judges, prosecutors, and other law enforcement to
				establish a system of criminal identification. The bureau serves as the state
				repository for criminal history record information and maintains and publishes
				an annual crime report. The bureau assists with the blue alert notice system
				and with information for lost, missing, or runaway children. The bureau
				conducts or schedules training of all types for law enforcement in North
				Dakota. The bureau operates the following sections in carrying out its duties:
(1) Investigation, including general criminal
				investigations and narcotics investigations.
(2) Cyber-crime unit, including the
				investigation of internet crimes against children.
(3) State and local intelcenter, which
				provides criminal intelligence information to state and local law enforcement
				agencies.
(4) Finance, including
				grant administration and business operations.
(5) Information services, including criminal
				records, uniform crime reporting, and the automated fingerprint identification
				system.
(6) Sex offender and felony
				crimes against children registration.
(7) Concealed weapons license
				administration.
(8) Administration
				and support for the peace officer standards and training board.
(9) Support for the twenty-four seven
				sobriety program.
(10) Information
				processing.
h. Fire
				marshal division. The state fire marshal is appointed by the attorney general
				and supervises the operation of the fire marshal division. The division is
				responsible for enforcing state laws for prevention of fires; coordinating
				resources for large rural wild-land fires; storage, sale, and use of
				combustibles and explosives; installation and maintenance of fire alarms and
				fire extinguishing equipment; adequacy of exits from public buildings;
				investigation of arson and the cause and origin of fires and education on
				hazards of fire. The division also has responsibility for the state's emergency
				response to hazardous materials incidents and hazardous materials
				training.
i. Consumer protection
				and antitrust division. The consumer protection and antitrust division is
				responsible for enforcing the state consumer fraud laws, investigating claims
				of fraud, misrepresentation, and deceptive practices in the sale or
				advertisement of merchandise, and mediating consumer complaints against
				businesses. The division plays an important role in educating members of the
				public regarding consumer issues. The division is also responsible for
				investigating antitrust violations and enforcing state antitrust
				laws.
j. Gaming division. The
				gaming division is responsible for regulating, enforcing, and administering
				charitable gaming activity in North Dakota. The gaming division performs office
				and field audits and investigations of gaming organizations, distributors, and
				manufacturers; ensures that the receipt, control, and disbursement of gaming
				funds are accurate and according to law; reviews gaming tax returns; issues
				administrative complaints; conducts criminal history background checks of
				applicants and officers and stockholders of distributors, manufacturers, and
				Indian casino management companies; provides guidance and trains
				representatives of organizations, distributors, manufacturers, and local law
				enforcement agencies; and ensures compliance with five tribal-state Indian
				casino gaming compacts.
k. Crime
				laboratory division. The crime laboratory division provides forensic criminal
				examinations, including firearms testing, fiber analysis, latent fingerprint
				analysis, DNA analysis, biological screening, and drug analysis. The crime
				laboratory also performs toxicology analysis, including testing blood samples
				for alcohol concentration and samples from the North Dakota medical examiner.
				The crime laboratory is also responsible for training law enforcement to
				conduct breath testing to determine alcohol concentration and to certify and
				repair breath alcohol testing equipment for the entire state of North Dakota.
I. Lottery division. The lottery
				division is responsible for administering, regulating, enforcing, and promoting
				the state's lottery. The lottery division selects and licenses retailers,
				trains employees of retailers to use lottery terminals, sell tickets and redeem
				winning tickets, assists retailers in promoting lottery games, pays high-tier
				prizes to players, ensures that retailers and players comply with the lottery
				law and rules, and provides full accountability to the public and
				legislature.
m. Criminal justice
				information sharing division. The criminal justice information sharing division
				is responsible for developing policies, processes, and statewide information
				systems to capture and provide complete, accurate, and timely criminal justice
				data. The criminal justice information sharing division administers the portal,
				which is a secure criminal justice information sharing hub, and the broker,
				which allows sharing of criminal justice information in information technology
				systems. Additionally, the division supports several statewide information
				systems, including a law enforcement records management system, a jail records
				management system, and a state's attorney case management system. Other
				programs within the criminal justice information sharing division include
				automated victim notification and the common statute table.
n. Information technology division. The
				information technology division provides technology planning and assistance
				services to all divisions of the office of the attorney general. The division
				maintains data repositories for the key information obtained by the various
				divisions of the office, including: sex offender and felony crimes against
				children registration; concealed weapon licenses; gaming and other various
				licenses; criminal history and other criminal justice repositories, including
				biometrics; crime laboratory management system; lottery management; consumer
				protection management; twenty-four seven sobriety management; crime statistics;
				and fire marshal and legal billing. The division also provides information from
				these repositories in response to open-record requests. The division maintains
				a helpdesk to support technology requests for the entire office and for
				criminal justice organizations across the state that have access to the data
				repositories. The division is also responsible to maintain a high level of
				security for the computer infrastructure in accordance with federal bureau of
				criminal investigation security policy; to forward appropriate criminal justice
				information to the federal bureau of criminal investigation; to maintain
				real-time communications with law enforcement across the state and the nation
				through North Dakota state radio and criminal justice data information sharing
				for access to the information in the state's criminal justice repositories; and
				to support those communications twenty-four hours a day, seven days a
				week.