Missouri State Sen. Joan Bray, Democrat, St. Louis

WASHINGTON: Lawmakers in Missouri and Kansas have joined the political backlash against “outsourcing” of U.S. tech jobs to India and have sponsored legislation to stem the tide, according to media reports. The lawmakers have brought bills that would require the states to do certain kinds of business only with contractors that perform the work within the U.S.

“We got a wake-up call last year,” said Missouri State Sen. Joan Bray, a St. Louis Democrat, and sponsor of one bill. “When we found out the Department of Social Services had contracted with a company that moved its call center to India, we didn’t like the idea that we were paying good Missouri tax dollars to employ people overseas.”

Kansas State Rep. Patricia Lightner, Republican, Overland Park

Bray’s bill would require the Missouri Office of Administration to contract only with telemarketing or telephone center services that operate within the U.S., the Kansas Star reported. In Missouri, one bill before the Senate would prohibit the state from contracting with foreign companies that gather personal information such as social security numbers of Missouri residents.

In Kansas, State Representative Patricia Lightner, an Overland Park Republican, co-sponsored a bill in the House that would require any vendor or contractor providing services to the state to perform all the work associated with the contract within the U.S. or pay damages equal to the amount paid for the outsourced work.

The Missouri and Kansas bills join a slew of pending legislation with the same anti-outsourcing goal –– domestic job protection. Around the nation, about 80 bills in at least 30 states contain related proposals, the report said.