Sen. Anne Carney applauds funding for public defense and civil legal aid in supplemental budget

AUGUSTA – Today, Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, applauded the inclusion of funding to expand low-income Mainers’ access to legal representation in the supplemental budget passed by the Maine Legislature and signed by Gov. Janet Mills last week.

“Our legal system is deeply complex – which means that accessing legal representation is effectively a prerequisite to accessing justice,” said Sen. Carney. “Our role as legislators in this legal landscape is to make resources available to support access to representation for all Mainers, regardless of ability to pay. This supplemental budget makes critically important investments both in our public defense system and civil legal aid organizations that, together, will help Mainers in need navigate our justice system.”

This supplemental budget expands access to legal representation through two key avenues. The first is the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services (PDS), charged with fulfilling the State’s Sixth Amendment obligation to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who cannot afford their own. Last month, the Legislature unanimously voted to pass Sen. Carney’s LD 2059, directing $22 million in emergency funding to PDS to avoid what could have been a catastrophic budget shortfall threatening the State’s ability to pay assigned counsel. While contracted private attorneys continue to play an important role in managing Maine’s indigent defense load, their fluctuating availability underscores the importance of simultaneously growing PDS’s internal capacity to meet needs.

Building on last month’s investment in assigned counsel, the supplemental budget includes $1.6 million for the buildout of a parents’ counsel division, as well as for more legal services staff and resources in regions with the greatest need. This investment will expand PDS’s physical presence to every judicial region in Maine, moving the state towards a sustainable, hybrid system of indigent legal defense equipped to use resources efficiently and effectively.

Civil legal aid represents a second key avenue for expanding Mainers’ access to legal counsel. Core civil legal service nonprofits provide pro-bono representation to Mainers who cannot afford an attorney through life-changing civil legal proceedings like eviction, domestic violence, elder abuse and denial of veterans’ benefits. These providers are currently stretched too thin to meet rising demand for legal help. The supplemental budget accordingly includes a $2 million increase in annual funding and a one-time, $3 million appropriation to build civil legal aid providers’ capacity to support Mainers in need.

The supplemental budget will take effect as law this summer, 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.

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