Over the past four legislative sessions the Maine Economic Research Institute (MERI) has researched and analyzed the potential economic impact of over 2000 separate bills. The majority of these bills do not make it through the legislative process; they are killed, dropped, or modified in a fashion that make them insignificant from an economic or business climate point of view. Bills are excluded that are too narrow in scope; do not impact a broad cross-section of the economy; are not significant in its effects on the economy / business climate; or do not affect a fundamental business principle. Bills that do not result in a public record of votes taken (roll call votes) are also excluded. Only bills that have a significant positive or negative impact on Maine's economy (according to those issues identified as critical by Maine's employers in MERI Senior Management Surveys—see: www.fixmaine.com) are used in the final rating methodology. From 1999-2006, 223 roll call votes (including both House and Senate) fit these criteria. Some long term legislators have been scored in each of the four sessions.

 Breakdown of bills by economic / business issue:

Business Regulation                                                 30%

Worker's / Unemployment Compensation              25%

Healthcare                                                                  10% 

Taxation/Spending                                                    11%

Labor Issues                                                               11% 

Environmental                                                               8 %

Economic Development                                              4% 

Education                                                                      1%

Why are these issues so important? Maine employers create and retain the jobs that support Maine’s economy and provide opportunity for Maine's people. MERI's selection of bills is a thorough and consensus process involving a broad representation of Maine's entire economic base and many thousands of work-hours in order to insure a fair and objective evaluation. 

MERI’s website has a description of every bill rated over eight legislative sessions (119th, 120th, 121st, and 122nd Maine State Legislatures). It is highly improbable that everyone would agree on the selection of all 223 economic bills. One could discard a number of these bills and the result would likely change the absolute score of individual legislators, but would not change their relative position along the continuum of scores significantly. This is exactly why we recommend to those who use MERI's information that they should focus not so much on the raw scores but rather on the relative position on the scale (Very Strong, Strong, Weak, Very Weak). The methodology is substantive and accurate, particularly as there are more data points for individual legislators.

One word of caution; A bill’s title does not fairly represent what is within the body of the bill.  You need to read the fine print. Sometimes a bill that on its face would appear very positive is wrapped in regulation that is so anti-economy—anti-jobs. MERI’s system for rating state legislators on economic / business issues is about a strong economy, healthy businesses and quality jobs for all Maine people.