The Maine Center for Economic Policy’s roots go back to January of 1991, when a group of organizations concerned about looming state budget shortfalls and proposed program cuts gathered in Augusta. Subsequently, the Maine AFL-CIO, the Maine Association for Interdependent Neighborhoods, the Maine Council of Churches, the Maine People’s Alliance, the Maine Women’s Lobby and about 25 other organizations decided to form Taxpayers for a Fair Budget. The coalition’s goal was to propose solutions to the state’s fiscal problems that would reduce program cuts for the most vulnerable populations and raise revenue in fair ways. Members worked during the subsequent legislative sessions to promote this goal.

In June 1993 our colleague Jim St. George, then at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, arranged for Taxpayers to attend a national conference organized by the Ford, Charles Stewart Mott, and Annie Casey Foundations to initiate their State Fiscal Analysis Initiative. The Initiative was formed with a recognition that all states experiencing the fiscal crises of the early 1990s were responding similarly: raising taxes in regressive ways and cutting programs that impacted low- and moderate-income families. It was hoped that if local research groups provided credible information about different state budget options, state policy makers would provide better outcomes for these families.

Betsy Sweet and George Christie attended this Washington conference and shortly thereafter, Christopher St. John joined Ned McAnn, Betsy Sweet, and Lisa Miller on Taxpayers’ behalf to write a planning grant proposal to the Ford and Mott Foundations. A new nonprofit corporation was created and named the Maine Center for Economic Policy. The mission included both analyzing state tax and budget options and locating those options within the context of an economy that generated opportunities for all Maine residents. The founding board members and their affiliations at that time were:

• Lisa Miller (American Public Health Association’s Maine chapter)
• Carla Dickstein (Coastal Enterprises, Inc.)
• Ned McAnn, (Maine AFL-CIO)
• George Christie (Maine People’s Alliance)
• Betsy Sweet (Senior Legislative Advocacy Coalition)
• Fred Pease (Maine Council of Churches)
• Karen Heck (Kennebec Valley Community Action Program)
• Martha Piscuskas (Maine Aids Plan Development Project)
• Andy Loman (National Association of Social Workers, Maine Chapter)
• Steve Butterfield (Maine State Employees Union)
  Joanne D’Arcangelo (Family Planning Association)
• Judy Guay (Maine Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods)
• Priscilla Attean (State Legislative Representative of the Penobscot Nation)
• Sherry Huber (Maine Waste Management Agency)
• Josie Laplante (Muskie Institute for Public Service)
• Frank O’Hara (then of Market Decisions)
• Ron Phillips (Coastal Enterprises, Inc.,)
• Trish Riley (National Academy for State Health Policy)
• Stan Tupper (attorney)
• David Vail (Bowdoin College)
• Julia Watkins (University of Maine)

In November 1993, MECEP became one of eleven state organizations granted planning funds by the donor consortium, and Christopher St. John was hired as MECEP’s executive director in May 1994. There are now twenty-two State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups nationwide. All continue to work closely with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a national partner working on similar issues at the federal level.

Judy Ward joined as Administrative Assistant in 1998. In 2007 Nicole Witherbee joined as Federal Budget Analyst, Deborah Felder as CommunicationsDirector, and Kurt Wise as Fiscal Policy Analyst. Lisa Pohlmann was on staff as analyst and Associate Director from 1995-2008 and Ed Cervone from 2005-2007 as Policy Analyst. Many more Maine individuals and organizations have participated in MECEP’s work as contributing authors, board members, and financial supporters.