SACO, Maine — A handful of Maine businesses are standing behind a recently launched campaign urging voters to check 'yes' on Question 2 this November.
Launched Tuesday by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce as part of its "Invest in Maine's Future" initiative, a handful of businesses met at molded fiber company Tanbark's location in Saco to discuss the benefits of the question.
Co-founder Melissa LaCasse of Tanbark says she started Tanbark partially as a way to push Maine's legacy of wood and pulp industry into the 21st century by creating a more sustainable option compared to plastic packaging.
"I'm a mother of three children, and I started Tanbark because I wanted to help address climate change and the problems they're going to be inheriting," LaCasse said. "With Question 2, we can put Maine on the map as a hub for innovation."
Question 2 asks to fund a $25 million bond to fund research, development, and commercialization efforts for select Maine-based institutions.
The last time Maine voted for a similar bond was back in 2017, which led to more than a billion dollar impact on Maine's economy and created over 1,700 new jobs, according to the Mills administration.
"Mainers are hungry for these types of companies. These types of jobs that will be here for a generation... the products that are for a global economy," Maine State Chamber of Commerce President Patrick Woodcock said.
Curt Brown of Ready Seafood got a chance to take advantage of the approved bond from 2017 and says it helped jumpstart his business which is now serving clients worldwide.
"So this investment will pay itself back many, many times over for Maine's economy," Brown said. "[It] was really the spark that ignited a fire of innovation at our company and, like I said, enabled us to generate more revenue, capture more market share, create new jobs and really grow our business."