An Act to Increase County Jail Funding
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 2232
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Amends: 34-A MRSA §1210-E

Legislative Document
No. 2232
H.P. 1507
House of Representatives, March 10, 2026
An Act to Increase County Jail Funding
(EMERGENCY)
Reported by Representative HASENFUS of Readfield for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Resolve 2025, chapter 73, section 2.
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Emergency preamble.  Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, state funding for county jail operations has remained stagnant while the 
costs to operate county jails have rapidly increased, creating an undue burden on property 
tax payers; and
Whereas, it is necessary that this Act take effect prior to the beginning of the next 
fiscal year; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  34-A MRSA §1210-E, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 732, Pt. A, §3 
and affected by §5, is amended to read:
2.  County Jail Operations Fund.  The County Jail Operations Fund is established to 
provide funding for county jails and the regional jail.  State funding must be appropriated 
annually for the fund in the amount of $20,342,104 prior to July 1, 2026 and in the amount 
of $28,342,104 beginning July 1, 2026, plus any additional amount the Legislature may 
appropriate.  The amount required to be appropriated under this subsection must be 
increased annually by 4%.  The department shall administer the fund and shall distribute 
funds to the jails in accordance with this section for the purposes set forth in subsections 3 
and 4 and in accordance with the distribution formula set forth in subsection 9.  State funds 
appropriated for the fund that are unexpended at the end of the fiscal year to which the 
funds are appropriated do not lapse but must carry forward into subsequent fiscal years to 
be expended for the purposes of this section.
Sec. 2.  34-A MRSA §1210-E, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 732, Pt. A, §3 
and affected by §5, is amended to read:
3.  Community corrections; pretrial release program.  At least 25% of all funding 
provided In addition to the funding under this section must be used by, state funding must 
be appropriated annually for the fund in the amount of $5,000,000.  The funds appropriated 
pursuant to this subsection may be used by the county jails and regional jail for establishing, 
providing and maintaining community corrections and programs and services required by 
section 1208‑B, subsection 4, paragraph D.  Jail programs and services must include a 
program, directly or through a contract with an organization, to supervise defendants 
subject to pretrial release conditions imposed pursuant to Title 15, section 1026, subsection 
3, paragraph A, subparagraph (1) and such requirements as may be established by rule or 
order of the Supreme Judicial Court.
Sec. 3.  34-A MRSA §1210-E, sub-§9, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 732, Pt. A, §3 
and affected by §5, is amended to read:
9.  Formula; distribution.  The council shall establish a formula for the quarterly 
distribution described in subsection 5. The department shall distribute quarterly to each 
county from the fund the amount due to that county as determined according to the formula.  
The formula must be based on the most recent previous state fiscal year for which data is 
available for the county and must:
A.  Take into consideration total statewide county jail prisoner days for all jails;
B.  Take into consideration and assign to a jail the number of county jail prisoner days 
attributable to each prisoner who was charged with committing a crime in that county 
or who was committed to the custody of or detained by the sheriff of that county; and
C.  Determine the proportion of statewide county jail prisoner days attributable to each 
county.
Emergency clause.  In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation 
takes effect when approved.
SUMMARY
This bill is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and 
Public Safety pursuant to Resolve 2025, chapter 73 to implement statutory changes 
recommended by the County Corrections Professional Standards Council. The bill 
increases the amount of state funding appropriated annually to the County Jail Operations 
Fund from $20,342,104 to $28,342,104 effective July 1, 2026 and provides that the amount 
must be increased annually by 4%. The bill requires the State to appropriate an additional 
$5,000,000 in funding to the County Jail Operations Fund, which may be used for 
establishing and maintaining community programs and services such as pretrial or 
conditional release, alternative sentencing or housing programs and electronic monitoring. 
Current law requires county jails to use 25% of the provided state funding for the County 
Jail Operations Fund to maintain these programs and services. The bill also requires that 
the formula for the distribution of funds be based on the previous state fiscal year for which 
data is available rather than the most recent fiscal year for which data is available. 
The committee has not taken a position on the substance of the bill, and by reporting 
the bill out, the committee is not suggesting and does not intend to suggest that it agrees or 
disagrees with any aspect of the bill.  The committee is reporting the bill out for the sole 
purpose of obtaining a printed bill that can be referred to the committee for a public hearing 
and subsequent committee action in the normal course.