Committee advances Sen. Carney bill to fund Public Defense Services, protect constitutional rights

AUGUSTA – Yesterday, the Judiciary Committee advanced LD 2059, a bill from Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, to provide emergency funding to the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services (PDS), whose impending budget shortfall puts at risk Maine’s capacity to meet its constitutional obligation to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who cannot afford their own.

“An operational public defense system is a fundamental prerequisite for ensuring access to justice for all Mainers, not just those who can afford to hire their own attorney,” said Sen. Carney. “Maine has made immense progress in recent years towards a public defense system that is well-equipped to meet needs effectively and efficiently statewide. It is imperative that we protect this progress by providing the Public Defense Services the funding it needs to continue delivering on Mainers’ constitutional right to representation through the end of this fiscal year.”

Under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the State is obligated to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who cannot afford their own, following financial screening and eligibility determination by a judge. Maine has made substantial progress towards a robust public defense system in recent years, working to establish public defender offices across the state and improve reimbursement rates for assigned counsel. In 2025 alone, PDS reduced the number of unrepresented defendants awaiting assignment of counsel by more than 75%.

Despite this positive trajectory, the need still looms large. Reckoning with a funding shortfall, PDS is expected to exhaust available appropriations required to pay appointed counsel come this April. If funding is allowed to lapse, assigned counsel will likely experience delays in payment, leading in turn to a decreasing number of attorneys and a soaring number of unrepresented individuals. Despite recent progress, Maine’s capacity to uphold its Sixth Amendment obligation will again be threatened.

LD 2059 looks to avert this risk by allocating emergency funding to PDS to support attorney pay and retention through the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. As amended, it strikes a provision initially included to support staffing of a regional public defender office, giving PDS time to assess shifting needs across regions since the bill’s drafting.

Meeting the State’s constitutional obligation to provide access to justice requires sustained and continued development of public defense services. LD 2059 is an urgently needed investment that will support Maine’s steady progress towards a more stable, reliable and cost-effective justice system.

LD 2059 now awaits votes in the full Senate and House.

Sen. Carney is serving her third term in the Maine Senate, representing South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and part of Scarborough. She serves as Senate Chair of the Judiciary Committee and the Joint Rules Committee and as a member of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.

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