The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Monday endorsed several initiatives to help improve the embattled system in Maine that provides legal representation to the poor.

In total, the committee backed about $8.1 million to support hiring attorneys to represent rural clients, increasing the rate at which attorneys are paid, creating a new pilot public defenders’ office and other smaller budget items. The recommendations will now go forward to the Appropriations Committee for consideration as it crafts a budget proposal.

The money is designed to address shortfalls in the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, which is charged with providing legal help to those who cannot afford to pay for an attorney. Maine is the only state in the country that hires private attorneys to represent all poor clients.

In addition to a 2019 report by the Sixth Amendment Center that identified problems with the system, the ACLU of Maine filed a class action lawsuit earlier this month alleging the commission is violating the U.S. and Maine constitutions.

“While there are many skilled and committed defense attorneys in Maine, (the commission) has failed in its constitutional and statutory obligations to supervise, administer, and fund a system that provides effective representation to indigent defendants throughout the entire criminal legal process,” the lawsuit alleges.

Lawmakers on Monday said they’ve been working to improve the system for two years.

Of the six initiatives, five received 10-0 committee support. The proposal to spend $1.67 million to create a pilot public defender office to serve Kennebec and Somerset counties resulted in an 8-2 vote, with two Republicans voting against it.

The votes came as lawmakers prepare recommendations for the budget writing committee, which will have to sort out which initiatives deserve funding. With a $1.2 billion budget surplus — about half of which could go out in direct payments to most Mainers — many competing needs will be jockeying to get funded.

The largest single budget line to support indigent legal services is $4.6 million to increase pay to private attorneys from $80 an hour to $100 an hour. Democrats on the committee said even that increase is not enough, with some saying they should put forward a rate of $120 an hour and others saying they should advance a tiered system to pay those who take homicide or child sexual assault cases more.

In the end, lawmakers opted for a straightforward request to pay $100 an hour. Sen. Lisa Keim (R-Dixfield) said she and other Republicans would support $100, but not a larger amount, particularly since lawmakers just recently approved the increase to $80.

“I know there’s a few other of my caucus members that will support $100, but I don’t think that is unanimous,” she said.

Rep. Jeff Evangelos, a Friendship independent who is not running for reelection, said he worries that an incremental approach to fixing the system could backfire because a new Legislature may not share the same goals.

“I’m not sure the incremental approach will bring any success in the following year when we come back for more,” he said. “I’m not playing to the lawsuit. We’ve been planning to fix these issues before the lawsuit. We’ve been trying for two whole years as a committee to grapple with this.”

Rep. Christopher Babbidge (D-Kennebunk) said he would prefer to go in with a larger number with the understanding that it might get whittled down.

“I think we need to have an understanding that once we pass these initiatives, they will be bunched in with requests from every committee who feels that every one of their initiatives is a priority,” he said. “Understanding that process, to go in with what we hope is a bare minimum, I think is an error.”

Another major initiative is to create a Rural Public Defender Unit at a cost of $965,897. It would pay for five attorneys who would likely be based in Augusta, but could be dispatched to rural areas throughout the state. Other budget items include $275,580 for legal research fees, $300,000 for training programs and $240,000 for contracted specialists.

In large part, the changes are meant to create a legal defense system that’s on par with the support and training given to prosecutors and local district attorneys. Committee members said although $100 an hour may sound like a lot, it must help cover overhead attorneys pay to maintain offices and the people they employ.

Following the discussion about helping to pay for legal research expenses, Rep. Thom Harnett (D-Gardiner) said those funds and others will help bring about some level of parity.

“This to me is a very important first step in equalizing that treatment and it is money well spent, and frankly I think it’s been terribly unfair that this cost has been borne by private rostered attorneys who as we know, are not even being fully compensated in their hourly rate,” he said.