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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1600
H.P. 1058 House of Representatives, April 10, 2025
An Act to Provide Regional Support Funding for Municipal Police
Departments to Support Special Response Teams
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative ANKELES of Brunswick.
Cosponsored by Representatives: CROCKETT of Portland, FAIRCLOTH of Bangor,
MASTRACCIO of Sanford, MOONEN of Portland, MURPHY of Scarborough, ROEDER of
Bangor, ROLLINS of Augusta.
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1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §911 is enacted to read:
3§911. Special response teams
41. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the
5 following terms have the following meanings.
6 A. "Department" means the Department of Public Safety.
7 B. "Fund" means the Special Response Team Fund established in subsection 3.
8 C. "Special response team” means an elite tactical group of law enforcement officers
9 certified by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy that rapidly responds to high-risk law
10 enforcement operations and conducts criminal investigations that exceed the
11 capabilities of standard law enforcement agencies and require specialized training,
12 equipment and tactics.
132. County contribution to Special Response Team Fund. By March 1st of each year,
14 a county shall contribute funds to the fund in an amount calculated in subsection 4.
153. Special Response Team Fund. The Special Response Team Fund is established
16 within the department as a revolving, nonlapsing fund administered by the department to
17 fund special response teams. The fund is funded by county contributions under this section,
18 appropriations, allocations and grants and donations from other public and private sources.
19 The department shall make a disbursement from the fund in an amount determined under
20 subsection 5 to a municipality that maintains and operates a special response team.
214. Contribution calculation. By February 1st of each year, the department shall collect
22 an accounting from a municipality maintaining a special response team of the previous
23 calendar year's expenses of the municipality to maintain and operate the special response
24 team to determine a county's contribution required under subsection 2. If 2 or more
25 municipalities collaborate to maintain and operate a single special response team, the
26 department shall collect an accounting from each municipality in the collaboration of that
27 municipality's expenses in maintaining and operating the special response team for the
28 previous calendar year. The department shall determine each county's annual contribution
29 to the fund in an amount equal to a pro rata share based upon the county's population
30 compared to the statewide population of the amount required to reimburse 10% of the total
31 statewide municipal expenses to maintain and operate special response teams. The
32 department shall provide each county with an accounting of the amount due for that county
33 under this subsection and deposit funds collected under subsection 2 into the fund.
345. Disbursements from the fund. By April 1st of each year, the department shall make
35 a disbursement from the fund to a municipality maintaining a special response team in an
36 amount equal to 10% of the previous calendar year's expenses of the municipality to
37 maintain and operate a special response team submitted to the department under subsection
38 4. If 2 or more municipalities collaborate to maintain and operate a single special response
39 team, the department shall reimburse each municipality an amount equal to 10% of the
40 respective municipality's previous calendar year's expenses in maintaining and operating
41 the special response team submitted to the department under subsection 4. If there are not
42 enough funds in the fund to fully make the disbursements required under this subsection,
43 the department shall disburse an amount to each municipality due a disbursement from the
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44 fund a proportionate share of that municipality's previous calendar year's expenses based
45 upon the amount available in the fund to make disbursements.
36. Rules. The department shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this section.
4 Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules under Title 5, chapter
5 375, subchapter 2-A.
6SUMMARY
7 This bill creates the Special Response Team Fund to reimburse municipalities that
8 maintain and operate special response teams, which are elite tactical law enforcement teams
9 certified by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy that rapidly respond to high-risk law
10 enforcement operations and conduct criminal investigations that exceed the capabilities of
11 standard law enforcement agencies and require specialized training, equipment and tactics.
12 The bill requires each county to contribute annually a pro rata share based upon population
13 of an amount equal to refund 10% of the previous calendar year's expenses that each
14 municipality spent to maintain and operate a special response team.
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