An Act To Expand the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy To Include 6 Members of the Public Who Are Not Employed as Any Type of Law Enforcement Personnel and To Require a Public Review of the Training Syllabus
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1092
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: MIRAMANT, EVANGELOS, CAIAZZO, CUDDY, DOUDERA, PLUECKER, SYLVESTER, WARREN, WHITE
Amends: 25 MRSA §2802, 25 MRSA §2804-C

Legislative Document
No. 1092
S.P. 353
In Senate, March 22, 2021
An Act To Expand the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal 
Justice Academy To Include 6 Members of the Public Who Are Not 
Employed as Any Type of Law Enforcement Personnel and To 
Require a Public Review of the Training Syllabus
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on March 18, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox.
Cosponsored by Representative EVANGELOS of Friendship and
Representatives: CAIAZZO of Scarborough, CUDDY of Winterport, DOUDERA of Camden, 
McDONALD of Stonington, PLUECKER of Warren, SYLVESTER of Portland, WARREN of 
Hallowell, WHITE of Waterville.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §2802, first ¶, as amended by PL 2019, c. 103, §1, is further 
amended to read:
There is created a board of trustees for the academy consisting of 18 21 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, the Chief of the State Police, ex officio, 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 2 citizens each of whom is not and has never been a 
sworn member of a law enforcement agency to be confirmed by the Senate, a municipal 
official who is not and has never been a sworn member of a law enforcement agency, one 
nonsupervisory corrections officer representing a state or county correctional facility and 
one person knowledgeable about public safety who has been recommended to the Governor 
by the Wabanaki tribal governments of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Houlton Band 
of Maliseet Indians, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkmikuk, the Passamaquoddy Tribe 
at Sipayik and the Penobscot Nation, the following to be appointed by the President of the 
Senate: 2 citizens each of whom is not and has never been a sworn member of a law 
enforcement agency to be confirmed by the Senate, and the following to be appointed by 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives: 2 citizens each of whom is not and has never 
been a sworn member of a law enforcement agency to be confirmed by the Senate.  The 
member appointed by the Governor based on the recommendation of the Wabanaki tribal 
governments must be recommended by the tribal governments by a process determined by 
those governments that provides for the board membership to rotate among the tribal 
governments.
Sec. 2.  25 MRSA §2804-C, sub-§6 is enacted to read:
6.  Public comment; review by board.  Prior to any change or adoption of an element 
of the basic law enforcement training program, a syllabus of the entire basic law 
enforcement training program must be made available for public comment and each 
member of the board must acknowledge receipt of and consider any public comment made 
concerning that change or adoption.
Sec. 3.  Transition.  Within 3 months of the effective date of this Act, the appointing 
authorities of the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy shall make and 
transmit to the Senate the appointments to fill the vacancies on the board with respect to 
the memberships reserved for citizens who are not and have never been sworn members of 
a law enforcement agency under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 25, section 2802.  A 
member of the board who is a member by virtue of being a citizen who is not and has never 
been a sworn member of a law enforcement agency who is serving upon the effective date 
of this Act continues to serve until being replaced by the appointing authority under this 
section.
Sec. 4.  Review of Maine Criminal Justice Academy basic law enforcement 
training program.  Within 12 months of the effective date of this Act, the Board of 
Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, with the presence of the 6 members who 
are citizens who are not and have never been a sworn member of a law enforcement agency 
under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 25, section 2802, shall conduct a comprehensive 
review of the syllabus of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy basic law enforcement 
training program after public comment pursuant to the procedures required under Title 25, 
section 2804-C, subsection 6.
SUMMARY
This bill adds 3 members to the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice 
Academy for a total of 6 members who are not and have never been sworn members of a 
law enforcement agency, 2 of whom are appointed by the Governor, 2 of whom are 
appointed by the President of the Senate and 2 of whom are appointed by the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and all of whom are subject to confirmation by the Senate.  
This bill also requires that any change or adoption of an element of the Maine Criminal 
Justice Academy basic law enforcement training program be considered only after public 
comment, with the members of the board of trustees required to acknowledge receipt of the 
comments, and that a complete review of the basic law enforcement training program by 
this process be accomplished within 12 months of the enactment of this bill with the 3 new 
members present on the board.