You asked what measures other states are considering that would restrict, limit, or prohibit the outsourcing of jobs overseas.

SUMMARY

Not including Connecticut, 27 state legislatures are now considering 42 bills to restrict or prohibit outsourcing in some fashion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Twenty-nine of the bills prohibit state agencies from contracting for services performed or goods produced outside of the United States, six bills deal with telephone call centers, and a handful of bills take other approaches.

Table 1 (see below) categorizes each bill for easy reference and a detailed list created by NCSL provides a summary of each bill (see Attachment 1).

RESTRICTIONS ON STATE CONTRACTING

Most of these bills would prohibit a state agency from contracting for services with a contractor or subcontractor unless they certify the work will be performed solely by workers within the United States. Enforcement mechanisms are included in some bills but not in others. One California bill (AB 1829) specifies contractors certify, under penalty of perjury, that the work will be done in the U.S. Others, like Illinois SB 2375, simply voids the contract for a violation of the no-work-overseas certification.

Colorado is considering possibly the broadest bill. SB 169 would require all companies that do business with the state and that have at least 100 employees to respond to an annual survey regarding job losses and outsourcing. If the company reports a net loss of 100 or more jobs due to outsourcing it would (1) be declared ineligible for state or local government contracts, (2) be declared ineligible for state grants or loans and for state or local industrial development bond proceeds, and (3) remain ineligible for seven years.

A number of bills create exceptions for services that are not available in the U.S. or that come from a sole-source provider located outside of the country.

CALL CENTERS

Six bills deal with telephone call centers. Their approaches include: (1) prohibiting the state from contracting for call-center service with an overseas provider, (2) requiring call centers to disclose to consumers where they are whenever their telemarketers contact a consumer, or (3) prohibiting companies from transmitting consumers’ personal financial information to overseas call centers without the consumers’ written consent. The Arizona bill (HB 2581) combines all three of these measures.

OTHER

A handful of bills attempt to curb outsourcing by other methods:

CONNECTICUT

In Connecticut, the General Assembly is considering three bills on outsourcing: SB 430, An Act Concerning Outsourcing; SB 501, An Act Concerning the Retention of Jobs in Connecticut; and SB 395, An Act Concerning Employees of Call Centers.

Table 1: Outsourcing Legislation by State

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