Los Angeles Municipal Code Ch. 65 Black Market Cigarette Prosecution Trust Fund

(a) There is hereby created within the Treasury of the City of Los Angeles (City) a trust fund known as the Black Market Cigarette Prosecution Trust Fund (Fund).

(b) The purpose of the Fund is for the receipt and disbursement of all appropriations, gifts, bequests and disbursements made to the City for violations of or in conjunction with the enforcement of Revenue and Taxation Code Section 30474.

(c) The Fund shall be administered by the City Attorney and expenditures from the Fund shall be authorized by the City Attorney or the City Attorney’s designee in conformity with the provisions of this Chapter. The City Attorney shall provide an expenditure plan as part of each year’s budget submission detailing the activities to be funded from the Black Market Cigarette Trust Fund.

(d) The City Attorney shall submit a detailed report on the activities of the Black Market Cigarette Prosecution Program and of all Fund receipts and expenditures to the City Council on a yearly basis.

(e) Whenever the money in Fund exceeds the budgeted expenditure plan per year, any additional expenditure and funding will need to be appropriated by Council with the Mayor’s concurrence. The City Attorney may not encumber in excess of $40,000 each fiscal year. The City Attorney will prepare the necessary documents to the Controller on an annual basis to revert unencumbered balances.

(f) Money in the Fund may be expended to offset expenses incurred in the training, preparation, prosecution and investigation of criminal cases arising in the City involving Revenue and Taxation Code Section 30474, and other tobacco-related offenses involving counterfeit or untaxed tobacco products, or the illegal sale of these products, and for expenses necessarily incurred by the City Attorney’s Office in the prosecution and investigation of these crimes. The Fund shall not be used to augment the salary or allowance of any City employee.

(g) Money in the Fund may be distributed by the City Attorney to the Chief of Police, or the Chief of Police’s designee, in an amount not to exceed fifty percent of the amount designated for the prosecuting jurisdiction pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code Section 30474. This money shall be used for the purposes of training, preparation, prosecution and investigation of criminal cases arising in the City involving Revenue and Taxation Code Section 30474, and other tobacco-related offenses involving counterfeit or untaxed tobacco products, or the

illegal sale of these products.

(h) The Controller shall establish and identify the appropriate techniques for accounting for all monies within the Fund, and shall establish separate accounts within the Fund as necessary and shall not commingle monies within the Fund with other City revenues or funds, except for temporary investments. All interest and other earnings attributable to monies in the Fund or to any of the separate accounts within the Fund shall be credited to the Fund or to the account to which it is attributable and shall be devoted to the purposes of the Fund or the account to which it is attributable.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 176,126, Eff. 9-12-04.