Ohio Dems offer bill to penalize call center for moving jobs overseas

By Marc Kovac | August 4, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

Democratic lawmakers announced legislation that would block state financial incentives from companies that move their call centers overseas.

Companion bills being introduced in the Ohio House and Senate also would institute increased public notification of call-center relocations outside of the country and require those companies to repay state incentives.

“This will help Ohio call-center jobs by creating a disincentive for companies to move these jobs overseas,” Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, a sponsor of the legislation, said during a late-morning news conference Wednesday at the Statehouse.

The law changes are titled the Consumer Protection Call Center Act of 2016. According to the Democratic lawmakers, Ohio has lost 13,900 call-center jobs over the past decades. About 171,700 people currently work in call centers in the state.

Under the bills, companies that plan to move call-center jobs overseas would have to provide notice 120 days beforehand, with fines for failing to do so, Schiavoni said.

In addition to paying back earlier incentives, those companies would not be eligible for additional state financial incentives for five years.

“Whether it’s in the Mahoning Valley, the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Ohio Valley and everywhere in between, the No. 1 thing that is on Ohioans’ minds is the importance of protecting and keeping jobs here in Ohio,” said Sen. Lou Gentile, D-Steubenville. “Far too many times, we’ve seen in other sectors jobs going to other countries, and we think this is one thing we can do as a state to protect Ohio jobs as well as protect the taxpayers of the state.”