09 April 2009

Why is this illegal?

A company hired by the government to create aerial maps of nine counties in southeast Minnesota is doing much of the technical work in India after laying off 10 employees in Maple Grove who had similar skills.

The offshore outsourcing by Aero-Metric Inc., based in Sheboygan, Wis., has angered state legislators who are proposing to spend an additional $5 million from the taxpayer-supported Clean Water Fund to map at least 41 other counties over the next three years.

"Minnesota money ought to be spent in Minnesota, particularly at a time when jobs are scarce..." But that may be impossible to guarantee. Rep. Rick Hansen... said he tried to add a no-outsourcing clause to his bill, but was advised by the House legal counsel that it would be unconstitutional.

3 comments:

  1. crazy Minnesota state constitution

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  2. This would probably run afoul of the prescription against regulations that unduly burden interstate commerce, since, from this language at least, it would prevent outsourcing to a neighboring state as well as to other countries. It's somewhere in Article III of the US Constitution, though I forget the section of the top of my head.

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  3. And of course I mean Article I, not III.

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