An Act To Reform Alternative Sentencing Programs
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0957
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: MAXMIN, CUDDY, BAILEY, EVANGELOS, MORALES, PLUECKER, RECKITT, TALBOT ROSS, WARREN
Amends: 17-A MRSA §1902, 30-A MRSA §1606

Legislative Document
No. 957
S.P. 309
In Senate, March 9, 2021
An Act To Reform Alternative Sentencing Programs
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator MAXMIN of Lincoln.
Cosponsored by Representative CUDDY of Winterport and
Senator: BAILEY of York, Representatives: EVANGELOS of Friendship, MORALES of 
South Portland, PLUECKER of Warren, RECKITT of South Portland, TALBOT ROSS of 
Portland, WARREN of Hallowell.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  17-A MRSA §1902, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 113, Pt. A, §2, is 
amended to read:
1.  Authority of court to order deferment and impose requirements; 
administrative supervision fee.   Following the acceptance of a plea of guilty for a crime 
for which a person is eligible for a deferred disposition under section 1901, the court may 
order sentencing deferred to a date certain or determinable and impose requirements upon 
the person, including the requirement that the person complete an alternative sentencing 
program, to be in effect during the period of deferment, considered by the court to be 
reasonable and appropriate to assist the person to lead a law-abiding life.  The court-
imposed deferment requirements must include a requirement that the person refrain from 
criminal conduct and may include a requirement that the person pay to the appropriate 
county an administrative supervision fee of not more than $50 per month, as determined 
by the court, for the term of the deferment.  In determining the amount of the fee, the court 
shall take into account the financial resources of the person and the nature of the burden its 
payment imposes.  In exchange for the deferred sentencing, the person shall abide by the 
court-imposed deferment requirements.  Unless the court orders otherwise, the 
requirements are immediately in effect.
Sec. 2.  30-A MRSA §1606, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 506, §1, is further 
amended to read:
1.  Participation in public works projects authorized.  The sheriff in charge of a 
county jail, or the sheriff of a county that shares a regional jail with other counties, may 
permit certain inmates of that jail to participate in alternative sentencing programs ordered 
pursuant to Title 17-A, section 1902, subsection 1 or other public works-related projects or 
in the improvement of property owned by charitable organizations in that county or another 
county.  A project or improvement must be supervised by the sheriff of the county in which 
the project or improvement is being conducted.  The sheriff may request payment from 
charitable organizations for the transportation of the prisoners and for the transportation 
and per diem compensation for any guards who accompany the prisoners.  For the purposes 
of this section, "charitable organization" means any nonprofit organization organized or 
incorporated in this State or having a principal place of business in this State that is exempt 
from federal income taxation under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 
Section 501(a), because the nonprofit organization is described in the United States Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986, Section 501(c)(3).
SUMMARY
This bill allows the court to sentence to an alternative sentencing program a person 
who is eligible for a deferred disposition.  This bill also authorizes a sheriff in charge of a 
county jail or in a county that shares a regional jail with other counties to permit an inmate 
who has been sentenced to an alternative sentencing program to participate in that program.