In a bipartisan vote, a legislative committee has approved a bill that would limit the outsourcing of state services overseas. In the course of their debate, lawmakers decried the economy?s ?jobless recovery? and railed against trade policies that restrict their ability to govern.
The Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee Wednesday approved S.F. 1792, authored by Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, on a 10-1 vote. The bill was then referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
The legislation requires that state agency contracts for services be performed by U.S. citizens or individuals authorized to work in the United States. Bakk said he was prompted to introduce the bill by newspaper reports that phone calls from food stamp recipients were being answered in India and computer programming for the Department of Health and Human Services had also been farmed out to Indian programmers.
?It?s reasonable for us to expect our state agencies, when they?re using our taxpayer dollars . . . to expect the work is done in this country,? Bakk told the Senate committee.
Thousands of Minnesotans remain unemployed and ?we?re not growing any jobs coming out of this recession,? Bakk noted. Outsourcing ?is part of the problem that we have a jobless recovery.?
Bakk said that, according to figures supplied by state economist Tom Stinson, some 300,000 jobs will be outsourced from the United States to other countries this year. Only a fraction of those will be government-funded, but the state should not add to the problem, he said.
Dennis Erickson, an assistant commissioner for the Department of Human Services, reported on the extent of current outsourcing by the department. He said phone calls regarding food stamp EBT cards were being handled by a private contractor, eFunds.
The calls originally were being taken at a call center in Green Bay, Wis., but in February 2002 the company transferred the work to a facility in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. The overseas work accounts for approximately $2 million of the $16.8 million contract with eFunds, Erickson said.
To date, no computer programming for the department has been done in India, but some is scheduled to happen under a contract with SSI North America, a Bloomington, Minn., based company, Erickson said. He said the programming involves an upgrade of computer systems to manage health care programs over the Internet.
Erickson projected about 8 percent of the contract work for programming ? worth about $1 million ? will be done offshore.
The Pawlenty administration shares lawmakers? concerns about jobs moving overseas, but has three concerns, Kent Allin, director of materials management for the Department of Administration, told the committee.
He said any legislation should include a waiver for special cases in which the state needs work done overseas. Bakk said he concurred, citing the case of an Iron Range agency that is working with a German company that has a unique steelmaking technology.
Allin said a second concern is cost ? whether keeping the work in the United States would cost more ? and a third concern is the fact that any legislative action to limit outsourcing could be considered a violation of world trade regulations. The World Trade Organization mandates that countries treat all businesses equally on service contracts of $477,000 or more.
That point elicited strong reaction from several lawmakers.
?We as leaders of this state are not signers of those (trade) agreements . . . (yet) they directly impact how we conduct our business as a state,? said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.
Lawmakers also expressed disagreement with testimony by Tom Hesse of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which opposes S.F. 1792. Hesse said 80,000 Minnesotans are directly employed because of foreign investment in the state.
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?If you look at the economy in total, Minnesota does benefit from this kind of investment,? he said. The movement of jobs overseas, he said, provides an opportunity to give up low-paying jobs and concentrate on creating more high-skill, high-wage jobs.
?Do you think, as a farmer, it?s fair that I should have to compete with somebody in Brazil who pays their workers $1 a day?? Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, asked Hesse.
?It sounds like a rush to minimum wage to me,? mused Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm.
Sen. Sharon Marko, DFL-Cottage Grove, pressed Hesse, ?Just where are these high-skill, high-wage jobs being created??
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In a bipartisan vote, a legislative committee has approved a bill that would limit the outsourcing of state services overseas. In the course of their debate, lawmakers decried the economy?s ?jobless recovery? and railed against trade policies that restrict their ability to govern.
The Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee Wednesday approved S.F. 1792, authored by Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, on a 10-1 vote. The bill was then referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
The legislation requires that state agency contracts for services be performed by U.S. citizens or individuals authorized to work in the United States. Bakk said he was prompted to introduce the bill by newspaper reports that phone calls from food stamp recipients were being answered in India and computer programming for the Department of Health and Human Services had also been farmed out to Indian programmers.
?It?s reasonable for us to expect our state agencies, when they?re using our taxpayer dollars . . . to expect the work is done in this country,? Bakk told the Senate committee.
Thousands of Minnesotans remain unemployed and ?we?re not growing any jobs coming out of this recession,? Bakk noted. Outsourcing ?is part of the problem that we have a jobless recovery.?
Bakk said that, according to figures supplied by state economist Tom Stinson, some 300,000 jobs will be outsourced from the United States to other countries this year. Only a fraction of those will be government-funded, but the state should not add to the problem, he said.
Dennis Erickson, an assistant commissioner for the Department of Human Services, reported on the extent of current outsourcing by the department. He said phone calls regarding food stamp EBT cards were being handled by a private contractor, eFunds.
The calls originally were being taken at a call center in Green Bay, Wis., but in February 2002 the company transferred the work to a facility in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. The overseas work accounts for approximately $2 million of the $16.8 million contract with eFunds, Erickson said.
To date, no computer programming for the department has been done in India, but some is scheduled to happen under a contract with SSI North America, a Bloomington, Minn., based company, Erickson said. He said the programming involves an upgrade of computer systems to manage health care programs over the Internet.
Erickson projected about 8 percent of the contract work for programming ? worth about $1 million ? will be done offshore.
The Pawlenty administration shares lawmakers? concerns about jobs moving overseas, but has three concerns, Kent Allin, director of materials management for the Department of Administration, told the committee.
He said any legislation should include a waiver for special cases in which the state needs work done overseas. Bakk said he concurred, citing the case of an Iron Range agency that is working with a German company that has a unique steelmaking technology.
Allin said a second concern is cost ? whether keeping the work in the United States would cost more ? and a third concern is the fact that any legislative action to limit outsourcing could be considered a violation of world trade regulations. The World Trade Organization mandates that countries treat all businesses equally on service contracts of $477,000 or more.
That point elicited strong reaction from several lawmakers.
?We as leaders of this state are not signers of those (trade) agreements . . . (yet) they directly impact how we conduct our business as a state,? said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.
Lawmakers also expressed disagreement with testimony by Tom Hesse of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which opposes S.F. 1792. Hesse said 80,000 Minnesotans are directly employed because of foreign investment in the state.
online pharmacy buy zestril without prescription with best prices today in the USA
?If you look at the economy in total, Minnesota does benefit from this kind of investment,? he said. The movement of jobs overseas, he said, provides an opportunity to give up low-paying jobs and concentrate on creating more high-skill, high-wage jobs.
?Do you think, as a farmer, it?s fair that I should have to compete with somebody in Brazil who pays their workers $1 a day?? Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, asked Hesse.
?It sounds like a rush to minimum wage to me,? mused Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm.
Sen. Sharon Marko, DFL-Cottage Grove, pressed Hesse, ?Just where are these high-skill, high-wage jobs being created??