“Maine is a state that believes employers should fairly compensate hard work, that the health and safety of working people should be protected and that no form of unlawful discrimination or abuse should be tolerated. Maine citizens are aware that laws and regulations designed to safeguard basic tenets of ethical business practice are disregarded in many workplaces, commonly referred to as “sweatshops.” State Government purchase of goods made under abusive conditions on behalf of its citizens offends Maine citizens’ sense of justice and decency. Moreover, when the State of Maine contracts with vendors whose suppliers profit by providing substandard wages and working conditions, Maine’s businesses are put at a competitive disadvantage. Therefore, the State of Maine believes in doing business with vendors who make a good faith effort to ensure that they and their suppliers at the point of assembly adhere to the principles of the State of Maine’s purchasing code of conduct.

“In its role as a market participant that procures goods covered by this code, the State of Maine seeks to protect the interests of Maine citizens and businesses by exercising its state sovereignty to spend Maine citizens’ tax dollars in a manner consistent with their expressed wishes that the State deal with responsible bidders who seek contracts to supply goods to the State of Maine, and protect legally compliant Maine businesses and workers from unfair competition created by downward pressure on prices and conditions attributable to businesses that violate applicable workplace laws.

“Seeking to protect these local interests through the least discriminatory means available, the State of Maine requires that all bidders seeking contracts to supply the State of Maine with goods covered by this code sign an affidavit stating that they and, to the best of their knowledge, their suppliers at the point of assembly comply with workplace laws of the vendor’s or supplier’s site of assembly and with treaty obligations that are shared by the United States and the country in which the goods are assembled.”