California lawmakers have taken steps to attack the use of foreign labor to replace U.S. workers. One effort seeks to use the state’s regulatory powers to prohibit utilities from shifting jobs overseas. Another legislative attack calls on federal agencies to investigate the H-1B program.

Both measures were approved this month by the California State Assembly.

This legislative interest stems from the decision by Southern California Edison (SCE) to lay off IT staffers as it shifted work overseas.

One bill prohibits a state-regulated utility from outsourcing any work associated with the “design, engineering and operation” of nuclear, electrical and gas infrastructure, “unless it first obtains the approval” of the state utility regulator.

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