ORS 468.961: Approval of Attorney General or district attorney before bringing felony charge; guidelines for bringing felony charge; model guidelines.

(1) Except in exigent circumstances, no person shall be charged with a felony under ORS 468.922 to 468.956 without the personal approval of the district attorney of the county or the Attorney General of the State of Oregon. (2) In order to promote consistency in bringing criminal prosecutions under ORS 468.922 to 468.956, the district attorney of each county shall adopt written guidelines for filing felony criminal charges under ORS 468.922 to 468.956. The written guidelines, at a minimum, shall require the district attorney to consider and apply the following factors in determining whether to file criminal charges: (a) The complexity and clarity of the statute or regulation violated; (b) The extent to which the person was or should have been aware of the requirement violated; (c) The existence and effectiveness of the person’s program to promote compliance with environmental regulations; (d) The magnitude and probability of the actual or potential harm to humans or to the environment; (e) The need for public sanctions to protect human health and the environment or to deter others from committing similar violations; (f) The person’s history of repeated violations of environmental laws after having been given notice of those violations; (g) The person’s false statements, concealment of misconduct or tampering with monitoring or pollution control equipment; (h) The person’s cooperation with regulatory authorities, including voluntary disclosure and prompt subsequent efforts to comply with applicable regulations and to remedy harm caused by the violation; (i) The appropriate regulatory agency’s current and past policy and practice regarding the enforcement of the applicable environmental law; and (j) The person’s good faith effort to comply with the law to the extent practicable. (3) In order to promote consistency and uniformity in prosecutorial policies, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Oregon District Attorneys Association, and after appropriate opportunity for public comment, shall adopt model guidelines for prosecution of environmental crimes. The Attorney General’s model guidelines shall provide for consideration and application of the factors described in subsection (2) of this section. A district attorney may fulfill the district attorney’s responsibility under subsection (2) of this section by adopting the Attorney General’s model guidelines. (4) Prior to or in conjunction with the filing of felony charges under ORS 468.922 to 468.956, the district attorney or the Attorney General shall file a certification with the court that the guidelines described in subsections (2) and (3) of this section have been applied and that, in the opinion of the district attorney or Attorney General, as the case may be, the criminal charges are being filed in accordance with the guidelines. [1993 c.422 §19]