In committee
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Virginia House of Delegates
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Co-sponsor
Call centers; relocation to a foreign country.
Requires certain call centers that intend to relocate operations from the Commonwealth to a foreign country to give the Commissioner of Labor and Industry at least 120 days' prior notice. An employer that fails to do so is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed an amount of $10,000 for each day of the violation. The measure requires the Commissioner to compile a semiannual list of all employers that relocate a call center from the Commonwealth to a foreign country and to distribute the list to state agencies. Subject to exceptions, an employer that appears on the list is (i) ineligible for five years for any direct or indirect grants of state funds, any loans guaranteed by the state, or any tax credit or reduction in tax liability and (ii) required to remit the unamortized value of such grants, loans, or tax benefits, or any other governmental support the employer has previously received, to the Secretary of Commerce and Trade. The measure requires new state agency contracts for the performance of state business-related call center and customer service work to provide that such work shall be performed entirely within the Commonwealth. Finally, the measure requires that, to the extent permitted, (a) state contractors who perform state business-related call center and customer service work outside the Commonwealth under an existing contract perform such work entirely within the Commonwealth by July 1, 2019, and (b) any new customer service employees hired to work under an existing contract be employed within the Commonwealth.
