State passes logging bill

AUGUSTA – The Maine Senate voted Thursday in favor of a bill to give northern Maine loggers and wood haulers a say on rates they’re paid by landowners.

The 20-14 vote on LD 1318 follows similar action a day earlier by the House and bolsters the bill’s chances of final passage.

The measure would allow wood haulers and harvesters to organize associations and negotiate collectively for rates, which would be determined by a board representing loggers, landowners and the public.

The measure is sought by loggers who said they have a hard time making a living from the rates they’re now offered. Supporters say the bill would not violate state or federal antitrust laws.

An opponent, Republican Sen. Kenneth Blais of Litchfield, said the bill tinkers with the free market system and could hasten the loss of jobs in the wood industry.

Blais said independent business owners in other trades, such as carpentry and house painting, would be in violation of antitrust laws if they too were allowed to associate for rate-setting purposes.

But Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, said a bargaining council created 25 years ago under similar circumstances in Maine’s agricultural sector helped to save the state’s potato industry.