NWU Offshoring Justice Campaign

Introduced by: Clinton
April 4, 2004

“A bill to regulate the transmission of personally identifiable information to foreign affiliates and subcontractors.”

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.02312:

Congressional Research Service Summary
4/8/2004–Introduced.

Safe-ID Act - Authorizes a business to transmit personally identifiable information regarding a U.S. citizen to any foreign affiliate or subcontractor located in a country certified by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as having adequate privacy protection for such information. Prohibits such business from transmitting such information to an affiliate or subcontractor in a country without such privacy protection unless: (1) the business discloses to the citizen that the country does not have such privacy protection; (2) the business obtains the citizen’s consent to transmit such information; and (3) the consent is renewed by the citizen within one year before the information is transmitted. Provides liability for businesses improperly transmitting such information.

Makes any business or organization that collects or retains personally identifiable health care information about consumers (health care business) liable for any damages caused by improper storage, duplication, sharing, or other misuse of such information by the health care business or any foreign affiliate or subcontractor that received such information. Prohibits a health care business from terminating an existing relationship with a consumer of health care services in order to avoid the consent requirement.

Directs the FTC to certify, and make a list of, those countries that have legal systems that provide adequate privacy protection for such information.

Introduced by: Markey
May 13, 2004

“To prohibit the transfer of personal information to any person outside the United States, without notice and consent, and for other purposes.”
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.04366:

Congressional Research Service Summary
5/13/2004–Introduced.
Personal Data Offshoring Protection Act of 2004 - Requires business enterprises to give U.S. citizens notice before transmitting personally identifiable information about such citizens to foreign affiliates or subcontractors located in countries with (without?) adequate privacy protections. Prohibits such transmittal where adequate privacy protections are lacking, unless: (1) the business enterprise discloses the lack of protections and obtains the citizen’s prior consent for transmittal; and (2) such consent is renewed by the citizen within one year before the transmittal.

Prohibits business entities from denying goods and services or modifying business terms for any person based on that person’s exercise of consent rights provided by this Act or other law.

Requires violations of this Act to be treated as unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Creates a private right of action in State court for violations of this Act. Authorizes States, on behalf of their residents, to bring civil actions in Federal court for such violations. Requires prior notice to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of State actions and authorizes the FTC’s intervention and appeal.

Directs the FTC to certify those countries that have legal systems providing adequate privacy protections. Creates a presumption of inadequacy for foreign laws that are less protective of privacy than Federal law or the law of any State, or where the FTC determines that enforcement is lacking. Requires certification of countries whose laws meet the requirements of the European Union Data Protection Directive, unless such laws are not adequately enforced.

In late September, the NWU Oppose Offshoring campaign urged California NWU members to Write to Governor Schwartzenegger and urge him to sign four bills that would have restricted certain aspects of offshoring. The anti-offshoring legislation was sponsored by the California State Labor Federation. The governor refused to sign the four bills.

The letter to NWU members is reproduced below.

California NWU Members
TAKE ACTION NOW

We urge you to immediately contact Governor Schwarzenegger and press him to sign the following 4 anti-offshoring bills that have been passed by the legislature:

* AB1829: Government Offshoring. Prohibits state agencies from offshoring government work, or using contractors who offshore work paid for by the state.

* SB1492: Confidential Information. Prohibits sending personal medical information outside the U.S.

* AB3021: Offshoring Reports. Require all employers with more than 250 employees to publicly report information regarding offshore work.

* SB888: Homeland Security. Prohibits national and homeland security work from being performed outside the U.S.

For the complete text and history of these bills, go to:

http://www.legislature.ca.gov, and search by the bill number.

There are a number of ways to contact Governor Schwarzenegger:
Web: http://www.govmail.ca.gov
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633

You do not have to write a complicated message (though you can if you wish). Your message can be as simple as: “Please sign AB1829, AB3021, SB1492, and SB88.”

BACKGROUND

This Fall the NWU in cooperation with many other unions will be taking up the fight against outsourcing of our work to foreign countries. This offshoring of high-tech and professional work is having a big impact on many writers and on the communities in which we live.

We are still in the process of setting up the campaign website, researching the issues, preparing materials, building a campaign committee, and so forth. But these crucial bills are on the Governors desk right now, so we are jumping the gun a bit and asking you to take action on this before all of our supporting materials and campaign organization are in place.

The California Labor Federation and other unions such as the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers have worked on these bills and called on the governor to sign them.

If you are interested in working on the anti-offshoring campaign, contact NWU Organizer Kenya Briggs at:
510.839.6092
kbriggs@nuw.org

The NWU, as part of its campaign to oppose the offshoring of high-tech and professional jobs, recently surveyed candidates in close Congressional, Senatorial, and Gubernatorial races across the country.

We asked candidates whether they support legislative positions taken by the NWU. In particular, we asked if these candidates supported legislation that would:

#1. Prohibit the use of tax dollars to pay for work performed in other countries if that same work can be performed in the United States, regardless of cost. Similarly, prohibiting government contractors from performing overseas any work that can be performed in the U.S.

#2. Require that government subsidies and grants for economic development and research, tax abatement, and other forms of public support be conditional on local job creation. No government subsidies shall be given to businesses that ship jobs overseas.

#3. Mandate that all work (public and private) that requires a state license when performed in the U.S, can only be performed outside the U.S. by persons who hold equivalent licenses which equal or exceed the standards mandated by the state where the work will be received, used, or applied.

#4. Prohibit manipulation of the visa system to facilitate moving jobs to other countries by bringing foreign nationals to the U.S. on temporary visas for the clear purpose of preparing them to handle work that will then be offshored.

#5. Prohibit the transmission of personally identifiable medical, financial, employment, legal, tax, or similar information about American citizens to other nations, except for nations that Congress identifies as having a level of legal privacy protection and enforcement that is equal to, or stronger than, that provided by current U.S. law.

#6. Prohibit any transmission of personally identifiable information about American citizens outside of the U.S. without prior notice to, and prior written consent of, the individual.

Survey Results

The responses of candidates to the questions are shown, by question, for the 13 close races surveyed. Italicized candidates are incumbents.

A response of Y means the candidate supports the NWU position. N means they did not support the NWU position. NR means the candidate did not respond. An S means the candidate sent a statement, and did not directly answer the questions. The Score indicates overall support for NWU anti-offshoring positions.

State	Race	Candidates	#1: No Govt. Work	#2: No Subsidies	#3: Licenses	#4: Visas	#5: Data protection	#6: Data consent	Score
FL	Senator	Betty Castor [D]	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	100%
		Mel Martinez [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
IL	Senator	Barack Obama [D]	Y	Y	S	S	S	S	33%
		Alan Keyes [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
NM	1st Dist.	Heather Wilson [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Richard Romero [D]	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	100%
NY	27th Dist.	Brian Higgins [D]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Nancy Naples [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
PA	Senator	Arlen Spector [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Joe Hoeffel [D]	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	100%
	6th Dist.	Jim Gerlach [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Lois Murphy [D]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Dorothy Schieber (Gr.)	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	13th Dist.	Joe Hoeffel [D]	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	100%
		Allyson Schwartz [D]	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	100%
		Melissa Brown [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	15th Dist.	Pat Toomey [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Charlie Dent [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Joe Driscoll [D]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
WA	Governor	Christine Gregoire [D]	Y	Y	S	S	S	S	33%
		Dino Rossi [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	5th Dist.	George Nethercutt	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Cathy McMorris [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Don Barbieri [D]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	8th Dist.	Dave Ross [D]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
		Dave Reichert [R]	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

Note that Rep. Joe Hoeffel from Dist. 13, Pennsylvania is listed twice as he’s the incumbent for the Dist. 13 race and he’s also running for Senator.