Subdivision 1. Penalty for operating an unauthorized diversion program. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a county or city that operated a pretrial diversion program that a court determines was not authorized under section 169.999 or another statute or law must have its aid under sections 477A.011 to 477A.03 reduced by the amount of fees paid by participants into the program for the years in which the program operated. A court shall report any order that enjoins a county or city from operating a pretrial diversion program to the state auditor as required under subdivision 2. The state auditor shall determine the amount of fees collected under the diversion program and notify the commissioner of the amount. The commissioner shall reduce the county program aid paid to a county or the local government aid paid to a city by this amount beginning with the first aid payment made after receiving notice of the reduction amount. No aid payment may be less than zero but the amount of the reduction that cannot be made out of that payment shall be applied to future payments until the total amount has been deducted.

Subd. 2. Court challenge to authority to operate a pretrial diversion program. Any taxpayer may challenge a city or county operation of a pretrial diversion program by filing a declaratory judgment action or seeking other appropriate relief in the district court for the county where the city is located or in any other court of competent jurisdiction. If the court finds that the county or city has exceeded its authority under law in operating the pretrial diversion program, the court must transmit a copy of the court order to the state auditor.

History: 1Sp2017 c 1 art 4 s 18