AUGUSTA – After a three-year battle to get his anti-“spam” bill through the Legislature, Rep. Albion Goodwin was handed the House gavel on Monday so he could preside over a final enactment vote.

The 129-2 roll call came without a word of debate, just like previous votes in the House, the Pembroke Democrat noted. It was in the Senate where the bill, LD 255, became bogged down in past tries.

So that’s where the plain-spoken and determined four-term representative concentrated his lobbying efforts. Goodwin said he persuaded reluctant senators to support his bill this time around.

“I changed their minds,” he said. “I wore ’em down.”

The bill was sent to the Senate for final approval, which is expected as early as today.

Goodwin’s bill gives Internet users in Maine protection from unsolicited commercial e-mail, known as spam, in two ways.

Commercial e-mail must include the designation “ADV” in the subject line showing it’s an advertisement, and “ADV ADLT” if it’s adult material.

Also, the ad must include a valid return e-mail address, enabling recipients to write back to block additional unsolicited e-mail from that source.

With final passage, the bill would take effect 90 days after the close of the legislative session, which is expected to take place in early June.

Goodwin’s bill comes just weeks after the Federal Trade Commission said the volume of junk e-mail is worse than imagined.

After a three-day forum on spam, the FTC said something needs to be done about spam soon to protect the Internet correspondence millions of people take for granted.

Maine’s action comes as other states contemplate and pass similar laws. In April, Virginia enacted the nation’s harshest anti-spam law. Authorities can seize assets earned from sending bulk unsolicited e-mail pitches while imposing up to five years in prison.

A bill sponsored by Goodwin last year survived until it came up for a final enactment vote in the Senate and an amendment weakening it was added. An attempt to work out a compromise in the final days of the session failed and the bill died.

Goodwin vowed to introduce a similar bill in this year’s session, and it was the first thing he did when he returned to Augusta from his Down East district.

Asked how he felt now that the bill appears to be on its way to final approval, Goodwin said, “Oh, just marvelous.”