Joint Order, Directing the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs To Report Out a Bill Providing Funding for the Downeast Correctional Facility

Whereas,  the Downeast Correctional Facility is established in state law in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 34-A, chapter 3, subchapter 6 for the purpose of confining and rehabilitating persons who have been duly sentenced and committed to the Department of Corrections; and

Whereas,  the current state budget establishes the Downeast Correctional Facility as a discrete program by making appropriations specific to that facility; and

Whereas,  the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety voted on March 20, 2017 to recommend that the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017 include funding for the Downeast Correctional Facility; and

Whereas,  because of the scarcity of available beds in the state correctional system available to house inmates, it is essential that the Downeast Correctional Facility be funded for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017 in order to ensure the safety of the public; now, therefore, be it

ORDERED, the House concurring, that the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs shall report out, to the Senate, a bill that provides funding for the operation of the Downeast Correctional Facility for fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19.