An Act To Create a Permanent Wabanaki Law Enforcement Seat on the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0239
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: DANA, BURNS, ALLEY, BEAR, DION, DUNPHY, FREY, GOODE, HILLIARD, MAKER
Amends: 25 MRSA §2802

Legislative Document 
No. 239 
H.P. 171 
House of Representatives, February 3, 2015 
An Act To Create a Permanent Wabanaki Law Enforcement Seat 
on the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative DANA of the Passamaquoddy Tribe. 
Cosponsored by Senator BURNS of Washington and 
Representatives: ALLEY of Beals, BEAR of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, DION of 
Portland, DUNPHY of Old Town, FREY of Bangor, GOODE of Bangor, HILLIARD of 
Belgrade, MAKER of Calais. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §2802, as amended by PL 2013, c. 147, §7, is further amended 
to read: 
§2802.  Board of trustees 
There is created a board of trustees for the academy consisting of 17 18 members as 
follows: the Commissioner of Public Safety, ex officio, the Attorney General, ex officio, 
the Game Warden Colonel in the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, ex officio, 
the Commissioner of Corrections, ex officio, and the Chief of the State Police, ex officio, 
a law enforcement official representing the Wabanaki tribal governments of the 
Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Passamaquoddy 
Tribe at Motahmikuk, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik and the Penobscot Nation and 
the following to be appointed by the Governor: a county sheriff, a chief of a municipal 
police department, 2 officers of municipal police departments who are not police chiefs, 
an educator who is not and has never been a sworn member of a law enforcement agency, 
a criminal prosecutor from one of the offices of the District Attorney, a representative of 
a federal law enforcement agency, 3 citizens each of whom is not and has never been a 
sworn member of a law enforcement agency, a municipal official who is not and has 
never been a sworn member of a law enforcement agency and one nonsupervisory 
corrections officer representing a state or county correctional facility.  The law 
enforcement official representing the 5 Wabanaki tribal governments must be appointed 
by the tribal governments by a process determined by those governments that provides 
for the board membership to rotate among the tribal governments. 
A designee of an ex officio member is a member of the board only during the term of 
office of the ex officio member who designated the designee. All of the other members of 
the board serve for a term of 3 years except that the Wabanaki law enforcement member 
serves for a term of 2 years.  A trustee holds office for the term for which the trustee is 
appointed or until the trustee's successor had has been appointed and qualified.  Members 
of the board are entitled to compensation in accordance with Title 5, chapter 379.  Any 
vacancy on the board of trustees must be filled in the same manner as the original 
appointment, but for the unexpired term. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides a permanent seat on the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal 
Justice Academy for a representative of the 5 Wabanaki tribal governments.  The tribal 
representative must be chosen for a 2-year term by a process determined by the tribal 
governments.  The process must require that the position rotate among the 5 tribal 
governments.