Sen. Carney introduces bill to support Public Defense Services, protect constitutional rights

AUGUSTA — Yesterday, Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, introduced a bill to provide emergency funding to the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services (PDS). LD 2059, “An Act to Provide Required Funding for the Reimbursement of Assigned Counsel and to Develop the Public Defender Office for Cumberland County,” was the subject of a public hearing before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, which the senator chairs.

“Access to justice requires that anyone charged with a crime can access defense counsel, even when they cannot afford to hire an attorney on their own,” said Sen. Carney. “That premise is not just an ideal for which to strive but a constitutional right. Now facing a critical budget shortfall, Maine must provide the funding urgently needed to retain attorneys who help ensure legal counsel is available to all — not just those with means.”

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 written, it also directs resources towards the public defender office with the most severe attorney shortage and the longest list of indigent defendants awaiting representation.

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.

In the coming weeks, the Committee will schedule a work session for the bill.

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