Florida Bill Loosening Child Labor Laws Fails To Pass After Public Backlash

A bill seeking to loosen child labor laws in Florida failed to pass after facing public backlash, including from Republican lawmakers.

Concretely, the bill cleared the Lower House but failed to pass in the Senate. It is now unable to move forward as the year's regular legislative session ended last Friday.

Had it been approved, the bill would have allowed children as young as 14 to work overnight shifts. "Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said when addressing the matter.

"What's wrong with expecting our young people to be working part-time now? I mean, that's how it used to be when I was growing up," the governor added. The measure also sought to remove all limitations on how late and how much 16 and 17-year-olds could work, meaning they would have been cleared to work more than eight hours a day on school nights and over 30 hours a week when the school is in session. It would have also removed restrictions for those aged 14 and 15 if they were home schooled or attend virtual school.

Republican State Senator Jay Collins, who sponsored the bill, said most jobs were in safe environments. We're talking about them working at Publix, at Piggly Wiggly or jobs within the industry," he said. "This is a parental rights thing. Parents know their kids best." Other Republicans argued that parents know better than the state what is best for their children. Democrats and advocates, in contrast, criticized the measure.

Orlando Weekly noted that Florida's child labor law already includes exemptions for children employed by their parents, those working in the entertainment industry, pages for the Legislature and children working in homes as babysitters.