§ 140B.110.Notice to Local Prosecutor

The first of three coordination sections, and the obligation falls entirely on the attorney general.

In a reasonable time before bringing an action, or on initiating an investigation on racketeering, the attorney general shall provide notice to the local prosecutor who appears to have primary jurisdiction over the criminal prosecution of any target, concerning the intent to bring an action or investigate racketeering, as applicable.

Subsection (b) requires the notice to describe or otherwise identify the defendant to the action or the suspect.

The two triggers carry different timing, and the investigation one is earlier. Notice before suit must come a reasonable time in advance; notice of an investigation is due when the investigation starts.

What this chapter adds to the older scheme is that local prosecutors are not only recipients of notice — they are enforcers themselves. A prosecutor receiving notice may already be investigating the same enterprise, and may hold the consent the attorney general needs to file at all.

So the notice does more work here. Under the trafficking chapter it warns a prosecutor about a case they cannot bring; under this one it opens a conversation between two offices that can each act.

The identification requirement is what makes the notice usable. Without a named defendant or suspect, a prosecutor cannot tell whether it touches an open file.

"Appears to have primary jurisdiction" keeps the duty practical. The attorney general identifies the prosecutor who looks right rather than resolving a jurisdictional question first — which matters in a case spanning several counties.