By Leo Shane III
Gannett Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - A Cleveland-area Republican wants to stop state contracts with companies that send work overseas and trim tax breaks for businesses that relocate jobs to other countries.

Union leaders are backing the proposal by Rep. Jim Trakas, saying taxpayer money shouldn't help move jobs out of Ohio.

But critics say the plan won't protect Ohio jobs and likely will discourage business investment in the state, both from domestic and foreign companies.

Trakas said his goal is not to regulate where corporations choose to do business, but rather make sure state funds are used to benefit Ohio workers.

"I believe the jobs that will be created by this money should be created here," he said. "Instead of giving up and saying someone else can do the work, we should encourage them to come to Ohio."

His bill would prohibit the state from contracting with any company that has not promised the work will be done with U.S. workers; recoup money from vendors who lie about operations outside the country; and require businesses to publicly state when they intend to move any Ohio jobs to another country.

It would also roll back tax cuts and state subsidies proportional to the number of workers a company exports.

Bill Teets, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Development, said clauses already exist in state loans and grants that require companies to prove they've created new jobs in Ohio.

Department officials are reviewing the legislation, he said.

Ron Alexander, president of the state's largest public employees union, called the proposal the first step toward bringing jobs back to Ohio. Union officials estimate the state will lose more than 150,000 technology jobs because of outsourcing in the next four years.

But Linda Woggon, legislative spokeswoman for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, said the bill's supporters forget that Ohio is one of the nation's top job importers, with about 240,000 workers employed by foreign companies.

She worries the bill will create an anti-business climate that will scare away domestic and foreign companies considering relocating to Ohio.

"The reality is we live in a global economy," she said. "We can't put up walls at our borders ... but still ask foreign companies to come here and create jobs in Ohio."

Samuel Staley, president of the Buckeye Institute, a free-market advocate, said enforcing the no-outsourcing rule could prove impossible because of the multifaceted, multinational reality of today's corporations. Software designed for a state contract might be written by Ohio workers but also include lines from foreign sources.

The restrictions could be bad for Ohio workers and Ohio taxpayers, he added.

"Under this proposal a job done with high-cost California labor is preferable to an Ohio company who outsources some work to India," he said. "And that's locking us in to higher prices. We're looking for ways to cut costs, not raise them."