Senate enacts emergency funding to cover a reported $13 million shortfall for assigned counsel

The Maine Senate moved an emergency funding bill for indigent defense to enactment on March 17 after senators described an urgent budget gap that threatens payments to appointed counsel. Senator Rotondo moved to remove LD 2059 from the special appropriations table; Senator Carney urged support, saying the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services faced an "imminent $13,000,000 budget shortfall" that could prevent payments to attorneys in the last quarter of the fiscal year.

"If funding is allowed to elapse, delays in payment will likely lead to a decreasing number of attorneys, and also to a soaring number of unrepresented individuals," Carney said, urging colleagues to vote ought to pass as amended. Senator Hagen and others voiced support for immediate action.

The chamber then voted to enact the bill as an emergency measure; the chair announced 32 senators voting in the affirmative and 0 in the negative, satisfying the two‑thirds constitutional threshold required for enactment. The president will sign the bill and the secretary will present it to the governor for approval.

Senators emphasized the bill was intended to ensure continuity of representation for indigent defendants and to stabilize the state’s public defense system while longer-term budget work continues.