‘ A. Review operations at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory and the forensic chemistry section of the Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory and make recommendations to the Attorney General regarding the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, to the Commissioner of Public Safety regarding the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory and to the Commissioner of Health and Human Services regarding the Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory concerning:’
Amend the bill in section 2 in §3036 in subsection 1 in the 4th line (page 1, line 11 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " The chair" and inserting the following: ' The Governor, subject to review by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters and to confirmation by the Legislature,'
Amend the bill in section 2 in §3036 in subsection 1 in paragraph D in the first line (page 1, line 18 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " research scientist"
Amend the bill in section 2 in §3036 in subsection 4 in paragraph A by striking out all of the first 5 lines (page 2, lines 1 to 5 in L.D.) and inserting the following:
Amend the bill in section 2 in §3036 in subsection 4 in paragraph D by striking out all of the first 2 lines (page 2, lines 20 and 21 in L.D.) and inserting the following:
‘ D. Review and make recommendations to the Attorney General regarding the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, to the Commissioner of Public Safety regarding the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory and to the Commissioner of Health and Human Services regarding the Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory concerning:’
Amend the bill in section 2 in §3036 by striking out all of subsection 5 (page 2, lines 26 to 31 in L.D.) and inserting the following:
‘ 5. Recommendations. The Attorney General, the Commissioner of Public Safety and the Commissioner of Health and Human Services shall review the annual report under subsection 2 and provide recommendations and suggested legislation to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters based on the report. The committee may report out legislation based upon the recommendations and suggested legislation.’
Amend the bill by inserting after section 2 the following:
‘Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF THE
Administration - Attorney General 0310
Initiative: Provides funds for one Assistant Attorney General position to serve as the executive director of the Forensic Advisory Committee and related costs.
| GENERAL FUND | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
|
POSITIONS - LEGISLATIVE COUNT
|
1.000 | 1.000 |
|
Personal Services
|
$62,988 | $88,587 |
|
All Other
|
$60,556 | $78,034 |
 |
|
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL | $123,544 | $166,621 |
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the minority report, makes the following changes to the Forensic Advisory Committee in the bill.
1. It requires the Governor, rather than the chair of the committee, to appoint 4 of the members of the committee.
2. It requires the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters to review, and the Legislature to confirm, the appointments made by the Governor to the committee.
3. It requires an academic with a doctorate in biological sciences, rather than an academic research scientist, to be appointed to the committee.
4. It requires the committee to make recommendations for each laboratory in the bill to the entity that has specific oversight authority over the laboratory.
5. It allows the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters to report out legislation, rather than a bill.
The amendment also adds an appropriations and allocations section.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)