Eric Schneiderman, NY Att. Gen.: "Don't Let TPP Gut State Laws"

[Faryn Balyncd]

Don't Let TPP Gut State Laws


The partnership's potential to undermine state laws should concern Congress.

By Eric T. Schneiderman, New York State Attorney General

April 19, 2015


State laws and regulators are increasingly important as gridlock in Washington makes broad federal action on important issues an increasingly rare event. From environmental protection to civil rights to the minimum wage, the action is at the state level. Ironically, one thing that may get done soon in Washington is a trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has the potential to undermine a wide range of state and local laws.

One provision of TPP would create an entirely separate system of justice: special tribunals to hear and decide claims by foreign investors that their corporate interests are being harmed by a nation that is part of the agreement. This Investor-State Dispute Settlement provision would allow large multinational corporations to sue a signatory country for actions taken by its federal, state or local elected or appointed officials that the foreign corporation claims hurt its bottom line. . . This should give pause to all members of Congress, who will soon be asked to vote on fast-track negotiating authority to close the agreement. But it is particularly worrisome to those of us in states, such as New York, with robust laws that protect the public welfare — laws that could be undermined by the TPP and its dispute settlement provision.

To put this in real terms, consider a foreign corporation, located in a country that has signed on to TPP, and which has an investment interest in the Indian Point nuclear power facility in New York’s Westchester County. Under TPP, that corporate investor could seek damages from the United States, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars or more, for actions by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Westchester Country Board of Legislators or even the local Village Board that lead to a delay in the relicensing or an increase in the operating costs of the facility. . . The very threat of having to face such a suit in the uncharted waters of an international tribunal could have a chilling effect on government policymakers and regulators.

Or consider the work my office has done to enforce the state of New York’s laws against wage theft, predatory lending and consumer fraud. Under TPP, certain foreign targets of enforcement actions, unable to prevail in domestic courts, could take their cases to TPP’s dispute resolution tribunals. Unbound by an established body of law or precedent, the tribunals would be able to simply sidestep domestic courts. And decisions by these tribunals cannot be appealed. . . . . . . . The beneficiaries here would be a discrete group of multinational business interests that should be entitled to treatment no better and no different than any other plaintiff receives in the trial and appellate courts of this country. The separate and unaccountable system of justice that TPP would create poses a major risk to critical statutes and policy decisions that protect our citizens — and it has no place in a nation committed to equal justice under law.



Eric T. Schneiderman is the 65th attorney general of New York state.





http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/trans-pacific-partnership-state-laws-117127.html

[Faryn Balyncd]

1. The entire article is a good read.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/trans-pacific-partnership-state-laws-117127.html

[cali]

2. it is. I posted it earlier. it got all of one reply

Hope your thread gets more

[99th_Monkey]

3. FYI - Here's how Wyden is trying to sell his support for TPP to Oregon Constituents.

Wyden Introduces Package to Boost Transparency, Oversight, Enforcement and Oregon Values in Trade Agreements
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Washington, D.C. – Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden today introduced a bipartisan bill to send the message that our country should only accept trade deals that will boost middle-class U.S. families and advance Oregon values.

The bicameral bill includes unprecedented new provisions to improve transparency, boost Congressional oversight and require stronger enforcement for existing trade agreements, U.S. trade laws, any new trade agreement.

The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act, introduced by Wyden, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., creates a process for negotiating trade deals, by instructing the administration to follow congressional priorities on trade. In exchange, Congress agrees to vote on trade agreements that live up to TPA conditions in a timely manner.

“Opening foreign markets, where most of the world’s consumers reside, is critical to creating new opportunities for middle-class American jobs in Oregon and nationwide. This bill, together with strong new enforcement tools, Trade Adjustment Assistance and the Health Coverage Tax Credit, sets our country and our state on the right track to craft trade policies that work for more people,” Wyden said.

“I'm proud this bipartisan bill creates what I expect to be unprecedented transparency in trade negotiations, and ensures future trade deals break new ground to promote human rights, improve labor conditions, and safeguard the environment,” Wyden said. “At the core of this agreement is a new mandate for the Open Internet, free speech and digital commerce, by ensuring information can flow freely across national borders over the Internet.”

From his website: http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-introduces-package-to-boost-transparency-oversight-enforcement-and-oregon-values-in-trade-agreements

[midnight]

11. That kind of sounds what Wisconsin's congressional rep. is saying too.

http://www.thedailycall.org/?p=67678

[99th_Monkey]

12. It's like someone slipped some GOP Kool Aid into the Democratic Caucus water cooler nt

[cali]

4. kick

[bullwinkle428]

5. Bingo!! The "trade" part of the deal is nothing but a fig leaf; a kind of

"3-card monte" that distracts people from the genuinely horrific part of it. That being the ability to ignore laws that have been on the books for a long time.

[Faryn Balyncd]

6. A fig leaf to cover an end run around environmental, labor, & other regulations without

having to change the law, combined with being able to "recover" loss of projected prpfits without even having to do the work.

(and that's not to even mention extending intellectual property monopolies).

all in the name of "free trade".

[WillyT]

7. K & R !!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. for later reading (and saving)

[Dragonfli]

9. I guess fracking will thrive here in NY, ban or no ban, it would cost the state too much

not to repeal the ban if imagined fracking profits are in the multiple billions and we get our asses sued in a kangaroo court. (I am sure energy concerns have a very rich imagination regarding profits when it comes time to sue over such things)

[Omaha Steve]

10. K&R!