The Maine Commission on Public Defense Services announced Wednesday it has run out of funding to pay private lawyers who provide legal services.
The commission is about $13 million short of what it needs this fiscal year to pay private attorneys who represent low-income criminal defendants and parents in court. The agency said in a press release that lawyers were notified Tuesday that final payments for the fiscal year will be made on March 23. The fiscal year ends June 30.
“This means bills for legal services already provided by lawyers that are submitted today will not be paid until July, unless the Legislature takes urgent action to fix the situation,” according to the release Wednesday.
The Maine Senate voted in favor of LD 2059, a bill sponsored by Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, that would provide emergency funding for the commission. House Republicans have withheld their initial support of the legislation, but are expected to vote again on the emergency proposal as soon as this week. It needs a two-thirds majority to take effect before lawmakers adjourn, which would allow the governor to sign it before April 1.
Frayla Tarpinian, the commission’s executive director, said during a meeting Monday that without emergency funding, the agency would not be able to reimburse private lawyers from April to mid-July for work they’ve already performed.
There were about 180 attorneys signed up for public defense work in February, according to the commission.
The commission was given roughly $51 million yearly in the state’s two-year $11.3 billion budget to pay lawyers who represent low-income Mainers in criminal and parental rights cases. The supplemental budget proposal from Gov. Janet Mills includes about $25 million in one-time funding for the commission, which would cover the $13 million shortfall this fiscal year and an anticipated $9 million gap the next fiscal year.
Tarpinian said she is “dismayed” that the funding issue has not been addressed sooner and that the state is now unable to pay for constitutionally and statutorily required legal services.
“The indigent defense crisis has been festering in Maine for years. Just as we are beginning to turn a corner to resolve this situation, we find ourselves unable to pay the people who have done the work,” she said in the news release. “This is a serious problem that will hurt people and result in fewer attorneys willing to accept these cases and a continued failure of the state to fulfill its obligations.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Gillian Graham can be reached at ggraham@pressherald.com.