An Act To Improve the Law Regarding Bail Commissioners
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0266
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: GERZOFSKY, DUTREMBLE, LACHOWICZ, DION, PLANTE, PRIEST
Amends: 15 MRSA §1023

Legislative Document 
No. 266 
S.P. 99 
In Senate, February 7, 2013 
An Act To Improve the Law Regarding Bail Commissioners 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
DAREK M. GRANT 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator GERZOFSKY of Cumberland. 
Cosponsored by Senators: DUTREMBLE of York, LACHOWICZ of Kennebec, 
Representatives: DION of Portland, PLANTE of Berwick, PRIEST of Brunswick. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §1023, sub-§1-A is enacted to read: 
1-A.  Duty of law enforcement agency. A law enforcement agency shall maintain a 
list of all bail commissioners available to that agency and provide each bail commissioner 
on the list with equal opportunities to set bail.  A law enforcement agency may not 
contact a bail commissioner on the list who has set bail more times than one or more 
other bail commissioners on the list within the previous 30 days unless all other bail 
commissioners on the list who have set bail fewer times than that bail commissioner are 
unavailable.  A law enforcement agency shall maintain a record of the list and of all the 
contacts to bail commissioners made from the list, including the name of the bail 
commissioner contacted, the name of the defendant to be bailed, the date and the time of 
the contact and whether the bail commissioner was available to set bail. 
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §1023, sub-§4, ¶C, as amended by PL 2011, c. 640, Pt. A, §2 
and c. 680, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
C.  In a case involving domestic violence, set preconviction bail for a defendant 
before obtaining from the arresting officer: 
(1)  A brief history of the alleged abuser; 
(2)  The relationship of the parties; 
(3)  The name, address and age of the victim; 
(4)  Existing conditions of protection from abuse orders, conditions of bail and 
conditions of probation; 
(5)  Information about the severity of the alleged offense; and 
(6)  Beginning no later than January 1, 2015, the results of a validated, evidence-
based domestic violence risk assessment recommended by the Maine 
Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse, established in Title 5, section 
12004-I, subsection 74-C, and approved by the Department of Public Safety 
conducted on the alleged abuser when the results are available; 
Sec. 3.  15 MRSA §1023, sub-§5, as amended by PL 2009, c. 23, §1, is further 
amended to read: 
5.  Fees.  A bail commissioner is entitled to receive a fee not to exceed $60 for the 
charges pursuant to which the defendant is presently in custody.  The bail commissioner 
shall submit such forms as the Judicial Department directs to verify the amount of fees 
received under may waive the fee required by this subsection at the bail commissioner's 
discretion.  The sheriff of the county in which the defendant is detained may shall create a 
fund for the distribution by the sheriff or the sheriff's designee for the payment in whole 
or in part of the $60 bail commissioner fee for those defendants who do not have the 
financial ability to pay that fee and have been bailed from a county facility administered 
by that sheriff. 
Sec. 4.  15 MRSA §1023, sub-§8, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 214, §3 and affected 
by §6, is amended to read: 
8.  Bail commissioners in indigent cases.  The Chief Judge of the District Court may 
adopt rules requiring a A bail commissioner may not refuse to appear and set bail 
regardless of whether the defendant is indigent and if a defendant is unable to pay the bail 
commissioner's fee. The Chief Judge of the District Court may also shall adopt rules 
governing the manner in which a bail commissioner is paid in the event an indigent 
person is released on bail and is unable to pay the bail commissioner's fee and the bail 
commissioner does not waive the fee under subsection 5.  Rules adopted pursuant to this 
subsection must include a provision to collect a bail commissioner's fee as a surcharge if 
the defendant is unable to pay the fee at the time of setting bail. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the Maine Bail Code regarding bail commissioners by: 
1.  Requiring law enforcement agencies to maintain a list of available bail 
commissioners and to provide each bail commissioner on the list equal opportunities to 
set bail; 
2.  Amending the law regarding the sources and content of personal information a 
bail commissioner is required to obtain prior to setting bail in domestic violence cases; 
and 
3.  Giving a bail commissioner discretion to waive the bail commissioner fee, 
requiring a sheriff to set up a fund to help pay bail fees for indigent defendants in county 
facilities administered by that sheriff and requiring the Chief Judge of the District Court 
to adopt rules to collect the bail fee as a surcharge for those defendants who cannot pay 
the bail fee at the time bail is set.