California governor vetoes three anti-offshoring bills
In a word, the anti-offshoring bills were "terminated".
Gov. Schwarzenegger has expressed a desire to promote a "Buy California" mentality and has spoken out against offshore outsourcing. But he also stated earlier this month that he did not know what to do with the anti-offshoring bills, and the pressure to act on them continued to rise.
In all, Schwarzenegger vetoed three separate bills that would have prohibited state agencies from using state funds to award outsourcing deals to companies that had work done overseas. Sponsors of the bills argued that taxpayer money should only go to companies that planned to create work in the state of California, or at least the U.S. Under the bills, California state agencies would be prohibited from outsourcing work unless that contractor could certify that all the work would be performed inside the U.S. by U.S. workers.
Schwarznegger disagreed in a statement posted on his Web site, saying that California needs to remain part of the global economy in order to fully recover from the recession that harmed many of the technology-rich state's residents.
Anti-offshoring bills such as Assemblywoman Carol Liu's AB 1829 caused a significant reaction among economists who believe that offshore outsourcing has benefited California.
In fact, Assemblywoman Liu's website itself states that "the State of California is using offshored workers in India to staff call centers that service California welfare and food stamps recipients."
Vetoes can be overriden, but the California legislature has adjourned for the year, a spokeswoman for Liu said. Liu's office might pursue a similar measure next year, the spokeswoman said.
The veto received diverse reactions.
The vetoes were immediately praised by Republicans and the California Chamber of Commerce, which called the legislation "job killers." But Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said the vetoes would send the "wrong message to Californians who look to Sacramento for job protection."
"The governor had a choice: Protect hardworking Californians or protect multinational corporations. He chose wrongly," Nunez said. "Now the people's tax dollars will continue to support jobs in India and Mexico."
Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger made ripples in the news by calling economic pessimists "girly men," turning a parody invented by writers and performers on "Saturday Night Live" into a parody of his own.
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