What This Bill Does
This bill modifies federal child labor laws to create an exemption for certain 16- and 17-year-old workers in logging operations. The bill allows these teenagers to work in logging jobs, but only under specific conditions related to family employment and job hazard levels.
Who It Affects
- 16- and 17-year-old workers in logging operations
- Parents or guardians who own or operate logging businesses
- The Secretary of Labor (the federal official who oversees workplace rules)
- Logging companies and timber operations
Key Provisions
- The bill defines "logging operation" to include mechanized work with timber, such as cutting, collecting, transporting and processing logs and wood products, as well as building and maintaining roads, camps and equipment used in these activities (Sec. 2)
- The bill specifically excludes manual chainsaw use to cut or process timber and cable skidder use from the definition of "logging operation" (Sec. 2)
- Child labor protections still apply to 16- and 17-year-olds working in logging jobs that the Secretary of Labor determines are particularly hazardous, unless the teenager is employed by their parent or guardian in a logging business the parent or guardian owns or operates (Sec. 2)
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, 16- and 17-year-old teenagers could work in mechanized logging operations when employed by their parents or guardians in family-owned or family-operated logging businesses, even in jobs classified as particularly hazardous. Currently, federal child labor laws restrict such employment.
Important Definitions
- "Logging operation": work involving machines to fell, cut, transport or process timber into logs, poles and similar products, or work maintaining roads, camps, machinery and equipment used in these activities
- "Mechanized operation": using equipment other than manual chainsaws or cable skidders to fell, skip, yard, load or process timber
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 671
To exempt certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in logging
operations from child labor laws.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 7, 2023
Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. SCOTT of
South Carolina, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To exempt certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed
in logging operations from child labor laws.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Future Logging Ca-
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reers Act’’.
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SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR LOGGING OP-
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ERATIONS.
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The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
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201 et seq.) is amended—
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•S 671 IS
(1) in section 3 (29 U.S.C. 203), by adding at
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the end the following:
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‘‘(z) ‘Logging operation’—
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‘‘(1) means—
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‘‘(A) a mechanized operation;
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‘‘(B) the bucking or converting of timber
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into logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical
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wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or
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similar products;
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‘‘(C) the collecting, skidding, yarding, load-
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ing, transporting, or unloading of such products
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in connection with the activities described in
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this paragraph;
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‘‘(D) the constructing, repairing, or main-
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taining of—
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‘‘(i) roads or camps used in connec-
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tion with the activities described in this
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paragraph; or
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‘‘(ii) machinery or equipment used in
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the activities described in this paragraph;
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or
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‘‘(E) any other work performed in connec-
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tion with the activities described in this para-
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graph; and
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•S 671 IS
‘‘(2) does not include the manual use of
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chainsaws to fell or process timber or the use of
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cable skidders to bring the timber to the landing.
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‘‘(aa) ‘Mechanized operation’—
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‘‘(1) means the felling, skidding, yarding, load-
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ing, or processing of timber by equipment other than
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manually operated chainsaws or cable skidders; and
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‘‘(2) includes the use of whole tree processors,
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cut-to-length processors, stroke boom delimbers,
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wheeled and track feller-bunchers, pull-through
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delimbers, wheeled and track forwarders, chippers,
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grinders, mechanical debarkers, wheeled and track
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grapple skidders, yarders, bulldozers, excavators,
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and log loaders.’’; and
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(2) in section 13(c) (29 U.S.C. 213(c)), by add-
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ing at the end the following:
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‘‘(8) The provisions of section 12 relating to child
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labor shall apply to an employee who is 16 or 17 years
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old employed in a logging operation in an occupation that
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the Secretary of Labor finds and declares to be particu-
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larly hazardous for the employment of children ages 16
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or 17, except where such employee is employed by his par-
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ent or by a person standing in the place of his parent in
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•S 671 IS
a logging operation owned or operated by such parent or
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person.’’.
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Æ
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