An Act To Create a Permanent Wabanaki Law Enforcement Seat on the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 0735
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: TALBOT ROSS, WARREN, MOORE, ALLEY, CARDONE, FECTEAU, HARNETT, HICKMAN, MOONEN, TUELL, CARPENTER
Amends: 25 MRSA §2802

Legislative Document
No. 735
H.P. 540
House of Representatives, February 11, 2019
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 TALBOT ROSS of Portland.
Cosponsored by Representative WARREN of Hallowell, Senator MOORE of Washington and
Representatives: ALLEY of Beals, CARDONE of Bangor, FECTEAU of Biddeford, 
HARNETT of Gardiner, HICKMAN of Winthrop, MOONEN of Portland, TUELL of East 
Machias, Senator: CARPENTER of Aroostook.
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, 
and 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 a law enforcement official and 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.