The commission's co-chairman, Rep. David Clark, R-Santa Clara, said he wondered if information is secure "when we're dealing with a land with a different set of laws."

Thomas wondered if Utah's rural Smart Sites could handle the work, but Nixon said Smart Site companies typically want to have jobs paying more than the $7 per hour typical of call center wages.

Two commissioners — Val Oveson, the state's chief information officer, and David Harmer, executive director of the state Department of Community and Economic Development — cautioned against moves that would violate procurement laws or foreign trade agreements or have long-term impacts on the economy.

Thomas said it is "entirely possible" to write legislation requiring the work be done in the United States on the basis of homeland security and identity theft issues. "I think that shrinks the concerns," he said.

"Outsourcing benefits both parties, or it doesn't happen," said Harmer, who noted that the United States is a net importer of jobs.

Anxiety always results when there is an economic shift to more-efficient producers, he said. Harmer called it "a big mistake" for government to restrict the use of the most-efficient producer. He also said protectionist barriers delay the economic impact of such job shifting, but the impact is usually more severe than simply adjusting to the job losses.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com