Stop funding avoidable rework.
To the incoming and returning members of the 133rd Maine Legislature:
Attached is a 21-page, source-linked fiscal accountability brief: Public-Dollar Cost of Procedural Rework in Maine Family Courts. Please treat it as a request for concrete legislation and appropriations oversight—not another generalized complaint about delay.
How much paid court capacity is consumed by preventable rejection, correction, resubmission, scheduling and repeat-proceeding cycles—and what will the Legislature require to change that?
A larger appropriation is not, by itself, evidence of a more effective process. Neither is a staffing shortage a reason to stop asking what consumes scarce staff time. Necessary safeguards must remain. Unnecessary friction must be measured and removed.
The brief treats York County’s March 30, 2026 eFiling rollout as the defined starting point for the local transaction audit. It does not pretend that 1,200–1,400 notifications equal that many separate court errors. It calls for the underlying filing chains, human touches, rejection reasons, actual handling time and paid costs.
I am asking the Legislature to pursue three specific actions:
- Require a Family Court Process Cost and Rework Report. Establish a 90-day baseline, an independent transaction-level audit, role-specific cost accounting and public reporting of time to substantive action.
- Condition new discretionary process-improvement funding on deliverables. Require exportable data, consistent correction instructions, accepted vendor remediation and independently evaluated results. Protect emergency relief, essential staffing, accessibility and judicial independence.
- Test a better workflow with an honest budget. Pilot early triage, appropriately scoped neutral fact development, focused hearings and enforceable implementation protocols. Measure safety, access, repeat litigation and total cost—not merely fewer filings or faster administrative closure.
The attachment contains proposed budget language, a 30/60/90/180/365-day accountability schedule, a records-request package, a pilot budget with a break-even test, and responses to predictable objections. It also corrects weaknesses in the earlier analysis rather than asking you to rely on an inflated claim.
Please provide a written response within 14 days of receipt identifying the office or committee taking responsibility, the proposed referral or sponsor, and the next concrete action. This is a requested response period, not an assertion of a statutory deadline.
To the House Clerk and Senate Secretary: please circulate this policy submission to every member and member-elect of the 133rd Maine Legislature, including those whose official inboxes are not yet active.
To Judicial Branch administrative recipients: please route this public-policy brief to all judges assigned to the York Judicial Center and the officials responsible for eFiling, procurement and court operations.
To the copied newsrooms and journalists: please independently examine the spending, the data gaps and the proposed accountability measures. The question deserves a documented answer.
Tradition is not a performance metric.
Budget growth is not a substitute for accountability.
Childhood is not a renewable resource.
No one should have to know what it feels like.
/s/Justin A. Tahai
Father • Engineer • Author
JTforME.com
Public-policy notice only. This email is not a court filing, service of process, an evidence submission, or a request for any off-docket ruling in a pending case. Counsel, court administrators, judicial recipients, the campaign and media are copied for notice and public accountability. The attached public edition excludes private child medical, school, therapy and message exhibits.