Governor Janet T. Mills (D) Gives Her State of the State Address to the Maine Legislature Earliler This Year in Augusta.

Governor Janet T. Mills, (D) today signed legislation to create new public defender positios across three Maine counties.

The Legislature, LD 653, formally renames the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services as the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services.  It creates 22 new positions, including 10 new public defenders across Aroostook, Penebscot and Piscataquis counties.  The bill is consistent with the Governor’s supplemental budget proposal that expanded the network of public defenders in Maine with 22 new positions.

“This legislation creates new public defender positions across communities in rural Maine and advances my commitment to improving the delivery of legal services to low-income people to ensure their Constitutional right to counsel,” said Governor Mills.  “The right to counsel is one that I deeply value and have personally delivered myself, having repreented low-income clients many times during my own legal career  I thank the Legislature for passing the bill, whch is consistent with my budget proposal, in such a timely manner.”