An Act Regarding the Membership of the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and Its Complaint Review Committee
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0513
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: RECKITT, DESCHAMBAULT, MORALES, PLUECKER, WARREN
Amends: 25 MRSA §2802, 25 MRSA §2805-C

Legislative Document
No. 513
H.P. 376
House of Representatives, February 19, 2021
An Act Regarding the Membership of the Board of Trustees of the 
Maine Criminal Justice Academy and Its Complaint Review 
Committee
Received by the Clerk of the House on February 17, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative RECKITT of South Portland.
Cosponsored by Senator DESCHAMBAULT of York and
Representatives: MORALES of South Portland, PLUECKER of Warren, WARREN of 
Hallowell.
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 19 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 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, a county commissioner 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 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 §2805-C, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 147, §37, is further 
amended to read:
1.  Committee.  The chair of the board shall appoint 3 5 members of the board to serve 
on the complaint review committee.  One Two of the members must be one of the citizen 
members of the board.  All A majority of the members of the committee, including at least 
one citizen member, must be present for deliberations.  A majority vote is necessary to 
recommend taking corrective or disciplinary action on a complaint or to order an 
independent investigation pursuant to subsection 3.
SUMMARY
This bill expands the membership of the board of trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice 
Academy from 18 to 19 by adding a county commissioner who is not and has never been a 
sworn member of a law enforcement agency.  The bill also expands the total membership 
of the board's complaint review committee from 3 to 5 and the number of members who 
are citizens who have not and never have been sworn members of a law enforcement 
agency from one to 2.  The bill further allows deliberations when a majority of the members 
of the committee, including at least one citizen member, is present instead of requiring that 
all members be present.