What This Bill Does
This bill amends federal labor laws to create exemptions for 16 and 17-year-old workers employed in timber harvesting. The bill allows these teenagers to work in timber harvesting jobs under certain conditions, even when child labor laws would normally prohibit such work.
Who It Affects
16 and 17-year-old workers employed in timber harvesting businesses. Timber harvesting employers and mechanized timber harvesting employers. The Secretary of Labor (the federal official in charge of workplace rules).
Key Provisions
• The bill defines "timber harvesting employer" to include businesses involved in cutting down trees, moving logs, processing timber into products like poles and fence posts, and maintaining roads or equipment used in logging operations (Sec. 2).
• The bill defines "mechanized timber harvesting employer" as businesses using heavy equipment like processors, skidders, loaders and bulldozers to harvest and process timber (Sec. 2).
• Child labor protections still apply to 16 and 17-year-old workers in timber harvesting jobs that the Secretary of Labor declares as particularly hazardous (especially dangerous), except when the teenager works for a parent or legal guardian who owns the timber harvesting business (Sec. 2).
What Changes
If this becomes law, teenagers ages 16 and 17 could work in timber harvesting jobs owned by their parents or guardians without triggering federal child labor law restrictions, even in jobs considered particularly hazardous.
Important Definitions
The bill defines timber harvesting employer, mechanized timber harvesting employer, and lists specific equipment that qualifies a business as mechanized timber harvesting.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1397
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt certain 16-
and 17-year-old individuals employed in timber harvesting entities or
mechanized timber harvesting entities from child labor laws, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 2023
Mr. GOLDEN of Maine (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Ms. PIN-
GREE, and Mr. FULCHER) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt
certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in tim-
ber harvesting entities or mechanized timber harvesting
entities from child labor laws, and for other purposes.
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 in Logging Ca-
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reers Act’’.
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•HR 1397 IH
SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR TIMBER HAR-
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VESTING ENTITIES AND MECHANIZED TIM-
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BER HARVESTING ENTITIES.
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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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(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)(1) ‘Timber harvesting employer’ means an em-
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ployer engaged in—
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‘‘(A) the felling, skidding, yarding, loading and
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processing of timber by equipment other than manu-
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ally operated chainsaws and cable skidders;
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‘‘(B) the felling of timber in mechanized oper-
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ations;
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‘‘(C) the bucking or converting of timber into
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logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical wood, ex-
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celsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or similar prod-
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ucts;
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‘‘(D) the collecting, skidding, yarding, loading,
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transporting and unloading of such products in con-
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nection with logging;
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‘‘(E) the constructing, repairing and maintain-
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ing of roads or camps used in connection with log-
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ging; the constructing, repairing, and maintenance
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of machinery or equipment used in logging; and
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•HR 1397 IH
‘‘(F) other work performed in connection with
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logging.
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‘‘(2) ‘Mechanized timber harvesting employer’—
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‘‘(A) means an employer engaged in the felling,
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skidding, yarding, loading and processing of timber
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by equipment other than manually operated chain-
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saws and cable skidders; and
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‘‘(B) includes an employer engaged in the use
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of whole tree processors, cut-to-length processors,
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stroke boom delimbers, wheeled and track feller-
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bunchers, pull thru delimbers, wheeled and track
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forwarders, chippers, grinders, mechanical debark-
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ers, wheeled and track grapple skidders, yarders,
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bulldozers, excavators, 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
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child labor shall apply to an employee who is 16 or
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17 years old employed by a timber harvesting em-
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ployer or mechanized timber harvesting employer in
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an occupation that the Secretary of Labor finds and
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declares to be particularly hazardous for the employ-
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ment of children ages 16 or 17, except where such
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employee is employed by a timber harvesting em-
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ployer or mechanized timber harvesting employer
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•HR 1397 IH
owned or operated by a parent or a person standing
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in the place of a parent of such employee.’’.
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