WASHINGTON --- Call center employees, those who both initiate and receive calls, would have to disclose their physical location to callers according to a Senate bill that the Senate Commerce Committee is currently perusing.

The bill, S.2553, arrives at a time when the outsourcing of call centers is being scrutinized and many companies are re-evaluating their options, according to Travel Weekly.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), with Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) as co-sponsors.

Expedia, which has outsourced call centers to Manila, Philippines, recently announced plans to bring some of its telephone operations back to the U.S. US Airways, in a similar move, brought call-center functions stateside after having operated out of Mexico, Central America and the Philippines, the report said.

Estimates show that 4% to 5% of call center outsourcing in India and 6% in the rest of Asia operate in the travel and tourism field, according to outsourcing and offshore research specialist Datamonitor. Latin America - largely in response to the demand for bilingual operators fluent in Spanish – operates 11% of call center positions, according to the report.

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