AUGUSTA – The House passed a measure Tuesday that would create a citizen trade commission to monitor and analyze the effects of federal trade policies on Maine.

By an 87-50 vote, the House passed LD 1815, which now goes to the Senate for a vote expected early next week. Proponents hope the commission will give the state more say in trade decisions so that Maine jobs, businesses and laws are protected. Opponents voiced concern about the cost of a new commission when the state already faces a budget shortfall. The fiscal note attached to the bill is about $12,300.

The House vote was prefaced by a press conference at which several legislators and about 30 representatives of the Maine Fair Trade Campaign voiced their support of the bill.

“It’s not just businesses and jobs that are threatened by unfair trade policies,” said Lewiston Sen. Peggy Rotundo. “Agreements like NAFTA grant corporations unprecedented new powers to sue national governments to challenge any state or national law that corporations claim cost them real or anticipated profits.”

She cited a Canadian company, Methanex, which sued the U.S. government for $970 million after California banned MTBE, a gasoline additive. Methanex manufactures a component of MTBE; the case is unresolved.

A bill recently voted out of committee banning MTBE in Maine is scheduled for a vote later this month before the Legislature.

Matt Schlobohm, one of the organizers of the grass-roots Maine Fair Trade Campaign, said trade agreements such as NAFTA sacrifice people and environmental protections for profits. The most obvious result of misguided trade policies has been job losses, especially manufacturing jobs. He was buoyed by Tuesday’s vote.

“I think it shows overwhelming support for the legislation and is indicative of the concern legislators have for these issues,” he said. “Maine needs to insert itself in the trade debate.”

Schlobohm said trade policies adopted with NAFTA eliminated tariffs and duties for American exports, which in essence encouraged U.S. manufacturers to locate overseas, taking their jobs with them. He said Maine has lost 11,460 jobs to outsourcing and imports since 2000.

L.D. 1815 would create a 17-member commission to assess the social, economic, environmental and legal impacts of free trade agreements on Maine, hold public hearings throughout the state, and develop policy to protect Maine jobs and laws. The commission would also make recommendations to the Legislature, Maine congressional delegation and U.S. trade negotiators.

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