1 Baker, Charles D.,the Secretary of Administration and Finance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,and Philmore Anderson, III,the State asing Agent for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.Google Scholar

2 Act of June 25, 1996, Chapter 10, § 1, 1996'Mass. Acts 210, codified at Mass. Gen. Laws, Ch. 7, §§ 22G-22M.

3 A “ comparable low bid,” as defined by the statute, is one that is up to 10% higher than a bid from a company on the restricted list. Inessence, a company on the “restricted purchase list”can only win the bid if its offer is at least 10%lower than the lowest bid by an unrestricted company.

4 Plaintiff NFTC, a nonprofit corporation, has strongly advocated open international trade and investment since its founding in 1914.

5 The parties have stipulated that (1) more than thirty NFTC members are on the “restricted purchase list:” (2) some NFTC members have severed their business connections with Myanmar, thereby affecting their competiti'Ve edge in the global market; (3) at least one member, who had contracts with Massachusetts in the past, did not bid on·new contracts because of the statute; and (4) at least one member on the “restricted purchase list” lost a contract prior to joining NFTC because its bid was not 10% lower than the winning bid. See Joint Stipulation Cjiiji 30, 36-37, 32, and 38.

6 There are currently eighteen municipal sanction laws issued against Myanmar.See Joint Stipulation ¶44. Massachusetts, itself is planning to introduce similar legislation next year against Indonesia.Id. at exhibit 15.

7 North American Salt Co.v. Ohio Dept. oj'Iransp., 122 Ohio App.3d 213,_N.E.2d_, 1997 WL 447643 (Ohio App. 10 Dist. 1997) recently joined tllis line os state precedents, wherein the Court of Appeals of Ohio upheld an Ohio “Buy American” Statute