Maine's public defense agency, after $13 million in emergency funding, already projects a $4 million shortfall; its commission holds a public hearing Oct. 26 on rules for paying lawyers
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The Maine Commission on Public Defense Services is projecting a $4 million shortfall for the upcoming year, three months after the Legislature allocated $13 million in one-time emergency funding to pay contracted private attorneys, Maine Morning Star reported July 28, 2026. Commission member Frayla Tarpinian said at a commission meeting that the commission cannot stop paying allowable defense expenses without violating people's constitutional rights. The article reports that the commission's roughly $9 million annual budget does not account for the 2023 increase in contracted attorneys' rates from $80 to $150 an hour, and that the commission plans to submit a budget with a higher baseline. It also reports that a Superior Court justice ruled last year that Maine had violated defendants' Sixth Amendment rights by not assigning counsel to those who could not afford it, that the list of defendants waiting for counsel that year grew to more than 1,100, and that it has since shrunk to about 220. The commission has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed new rule, Chapter 7, Fee Schedule and Administrative Procedures for Payment of Counsel, for Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. at 77 Sewell Street, Suite 300 in Augusta or by Zoom.
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