1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to local government; authorizing a pilot 
  1.3             project for family group conferencing; appropriating 
  1.4             money. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [PILOT PROJECT FOR FAMILY GROUP CONFERENCING IN 
  1.7   FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] (a) For purposes of this 
  1.9   section, the following terms have the meanings given them.  
  1.10     (b) "Conference" means a family group conference attended 
  1.11  by a crime victim, the offender, their families, and community 
  1.12  representatives and facilitated by a law enforcement agent or 
  1.13  other individual trained as a facilitator. 
  1.14     (c) "Law enforcement agencies" includes agencies which 
  1.15  carry on law enforcement functions including municipal police 
  1.16  departments, county sheriff departments, corrections 
  1.17  departments, and offices of prosecuting attorneys. 
  1.18     (d) "Municipality" means any city, whether organized under 
  1.19  home rule charter or otherwise, any county, town, school 
  1.20  district, or joint powers board or organization created under 
  1.21  section 471.59 or other statute. 
  1.22     (e) "Program" means a family group conference program.  
  1.23     (f) "Public" means information which is accessible to the 
  1.24  public in accordance with Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03. 
  1.25     Subd. 2.  [AUTHORIZATION FOR PILOT PROJECT.] (a) The Dakota 
  2.1   county board of commissioners may establish a pilot project for 
  2.2   family group conferencing in Dakota county to provide assistance 
  2.3   to other municipalities in the first judicial district in 
  2.4   establishing family group conferencing programs.  
  2.5      (b) The pilot project shall be established to assist law 
  2.6   enforcement agencies, community members, or the courts to 
  2.7   increase community involvement in crime reparation by 
  2.8   facilitating conferences among the offender, victims, community 
  2.9   members, and law enforcement agencies as an alternative to 
  2.10  prosecution for appropriate offenders. 
  2.11     (c) The program shall be administered by a coordinator 
  2.12  responsible for overseeing the implementation of the program in 
  2.13  the first judicial district and for coordinating and training 
  2.14  necessary to implement the programs.  
  2.15     (d) The pilot project shall run from July 1, 1996, through 
  2.16  June 30, 1998.  The Dakota county board of commissioners shall 
  2.17  report to the legislature on the effectiveness of the project by 
  2.18  January 15, 1999.  
  2.19     Subd. 3.  [PROGRAM PARAMETERS.] The county attorney, in 
  2.20  consultation with the coordinator and local law enforcement 
  2.21  agencies, shall establish program parameters.  The program is 
  2.22  available for first-time juvenile offenders and must not be used 
  2.23  for felonies, domestic violence, child abuse, use of firearms, 
  2.24  or offenses involving driving and alcohol or drug offenses, 
  2.25  unless the county attorney, in consultation with the coordinator 
  2.26  and local law enforcement agencies, determines that the use of 
  2.27  conferences in these situations is in the best interests of the 
  2.28  community, victim, and offender.  
  2.29     Subd. 4.  [ADDITIONAL PILOT PROJECTS.] Upon application 
  2.30  from any municipality within the first judicial district, the 
  2.31  Dakota county board of commissioners may authorize payment of 
  2.32  funds authorized by this section to implement a program within 
  2.33  that municipality if the board of commissioners determines that 
  2.34  the program complies with the program parameters listed in 
  2.35  subdivision 3.  
  2.36     Subd. 5.  [INFORMATION.] Notwithstanding Minnesota 
  3.1   Statutes, chapter 13, and section 260.161, subdivision 3, law 
  3.2   enforcement agencies may provide information on juvenile 
  3.3   offenders to the coordinator and conference participants if 
  3.4   necessary for the coordinator's centralized recordkeeping of all 
  3.5   cases in which there has been a conference, to track compliance 
  3.6   with the program parameters and as necessary to conduct the 
  3.7   conferences.  The coordinator and each conference facilitator 
  3.8   shall give any victim participating in a conference the 
  3.9   opportunity to request that information on the victim which is 
  3.10  not otherwise public may be withheld from other conference 
  3.11  participants.  The coordinator and the conference facilitator 
  3.12  shall use their best efforts to honor the victim's request to 
  3.13  withhold from conference participants information that is not 
  3.14  public.  Victims and juveniles must not be identified in any 
  3.15  public reports on the pilot project.  
  3.16     Subd. 6.  [LIABILITY.] (a) A municipality participating in 
  3.17  the conferences authorized by this section is immune from 
  3.18  liability for any claim based upon an act or omission of an 
  3.19  officer or employee of the municipality, exercising due care in 
  3.20  the execution of this section or any other statute, charter, 
  3.21  ordinance, resolution, or rule. 
  3.22     (b) All communication among participants in a conference is 
  3.23  privileged.  Statements made and documents produced in a 
  3.24  conference that are not otherwise discoverable are not subject 
  3.25  to discovery or other disclosure and are not admissible into 
  3.26  evidence for any purpose at any judicial or administrative 
  3.27  proceeding without the consent of the person making the 
  3.28  statement.  
  3.29     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.30     $200,000 is appropriated in fiscal year 1997 from the 
  3.31  general fund to Dakota county for the purposes described in 
  3.32  section 1, including the hiring of a coordinator, provision of 
  3.33  training, and provision of funding to other municipalities 
  3.34  within the first judicial district for their expenses incurred 
  3.35  in implementing a program.