II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1434 To require certain businesses to disclose and eradicate the use of unlawful child labor in their supply chain, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 3, 2023 Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To require certain businesses to disclose and eradicate the use of unlawful child labor in their supply chain, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Corporate Responsi- 4 bility for Child Labor Elimination Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. REQUIRED REPORTING ON USE OF UNLAWFUL 6 CHILD LABOR FROM COVERED BUSINESS EN- 7 TITIES. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1434 IS (1) COVERED BUSINESS ENTITY.—The term 1 ‘‘covered business entity’’ means any issuer, as de- 2 fined in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 3 (15 U.S.C. 77b(a)), that has annual, worldwide 4 gross receipts that exceed $500,000,000. 5 (2) GROSS RECEIPTS.—The term ‘‘gross re- 6 ceipts’’ has the meaning given the term in section 7 993(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 8 (3) ON-SITE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘on-site serv- 9 ice’’ means any service work provided on the site of 10 a covered business entity or supplier of such entity, 11 including food service work, catering services, clean- 12 ing, and maintenance. 13 (4) ON-SITE SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term 14 ‘‘on-site service provider’’, with respect to a covered 15 business entity, means any entity that provides 16 workers who perform on-site services for the covered 17 business entity or any supplier of such covered busi- 18 ness entity. 19 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20 the Secretary of Labor. 21 (6) SUPPLIER.—The term ‘‘supplier’’, with re- 22 spect to a covered business entity, means any entity 23 that produces any input of a good produced by such 24 covered business entity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1434 IS (7) SUPPLY CHAIN.—The term ‘‘supply chain’’ 1 means the end-to-end process for producing and 2 transporting goods beginning at the point of origin 3 through a point of distribution to the destination, in- 4 clusive of suppliers and on-site service providers. 5 (8) UNLAWFUL CHILD LABOR.—The term ‘‘un- 6 lawful child labor’’ means any labor practice that 7 violates child labor laws in the United States, includ- 8 ing Federal and State child labor laws. 9 (b) AUDIT AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 11 the date of enactment of this Act, and every year 12 thereafter, each covered business entity shall— 13 (A) conduct an audit of its supply chain, 14 pursuant to the requirements of section 3, to 15 investigate the presence or use of unlawful child 16 labor by the covered business entity, suppliers 17 of the covered business entity, and on-site serv- 18 ice providers of the covered business entity; 19 (B) submit a report to the Secretary con- 20 taining the information described in paragraph 21 (2) on the results of such audit and efforts of 22 the covered business entity to eradicate unlaw- 23 ful child labor from the covered business entity, 24 suppliers of the covered business entity, and on- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1434 IS site service providers of the covered business 1 entity; and 2 (C)(i) publish the report described in sub- 3 paragraph (B) on the public website of the cov- 4 ered business entity, and provide a conspicuous 5 and easily understood link on the homepage of 6 such website that leads to the report; or 7 (ii) in the case of a covered business entity 8 that does not have a public website, provide the 9 report in written form to any consumer of the 10 covered business entity not later than 30 days 11 after the consumer submits a request for the 12 report. 13 (2) REQUIRED REPORT CONTENTS.—Each re- 14 port required under paragraph (1)(B) shall contain, 15 at a minimum— 16 (A) a disclosure of the policies of the cov- 17 ered business entity to prevent the use of un- 18 lawful child labor by the covered business entity 19 and any supplier or on-site service provider of 20 the covered business entity; 21 (B) a disclosure of what policies or proce- 22 dures, if any, the covered business entity uses— 23 (i) for the verification of suppliers of 24 the covered business entity and on-site 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1434 IS service providers of the covered business 1 entity to evaluate and address risks of un- 2 lawful child labor and whether the 3 verification was conducted by a third 4 party; 5 (ii) to require suppliers of the covered 6 business entity and on-site service pro- 7 viders of the covered business entity to 8 provide written certification that inputs 9 supplied or on-site services provided, re- 10 spectively, comply with the child labor laws 11 in the United States, including any Fed- 12 eral or State child labor law; 13 (iii) to maintain internal account- 14 ability standards and procedures for work- 15 ers, including contractors, of the covered 16 business entity failing to meet require- 17 ments regarding unlawful child labor; and 18 (iv) to provide training on recognizing 19 and preventing unlawful child labor, par- 20 ticularly with respect to mitigating risks 21 within the supply chain of the covered 22 business entity, to workers, including man- 23 agement personnel, of the covered business 24 entity who have direct responsibility for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1434 IS managing the supply chain of the covered 1 business entity; 2 (C) a description of the findings of each 3 audit required under paragraph (1)(A), includ- 4 ing the details of any instances of found or sus- 5 pected unlawful child labor; and 6 (D) a written certification, signed by the 7 chief executive officer of the covered business 8 entity, that— 9 (i) the covered business entity has 10 complied with the requirements of this Act 11 and exercised due diligence in order to 12 eradicate unlawful child labor from the 13 supply chain of the covered business entity; 14 (ii) to the best of the chief executive 15 officer’s knowledge, the covered business 16 entity has found no instances of the use of 17 unlawful child labor by the covered busi- 18 ness entity or any supplier or on-site serv- 19 ice provider of the covered business entity 20 or has disclosed every known instance of 21 such use of unlawful child labor; and 22 (iii) the chief executive officer and any 23 other officers submitting the report or cer- 24 tification understand that section 1001 of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1434 IS title 18, United States Code (commonly 1 known as the ‘‘False Statements Act’’), 2 applies to the information contained in the 3 report submitted to the Secretary. 4 (c) REPORT OF VIOLATIONS TO CONGRESS.—Each 5 year, the Secretary shall prepare and submit a report to 6 Congress regarding covered business entities that— 7 (1) have failed to conduct audits required under 8 this Act for the preceding year or have been adju- 9 dicated in violation of any other provision of this 10 Act; or 11 (2) have been found to have used unlawful child 12 labor, including the use of unlawful child labor in 13 their supply chain. 14 SEC. 3. AUDIT REQUIREMENTS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each audit conducted under sec- 16 tion 2(b)(1)(A) shall meet each of the following require- 17 ments: 18 (1) WORKER INTERVIEWS.—The auditor 19 shall— 20 (A) select a cross-section of workers to 21 interview that represents the full diversity of all 22 workplaces of the covered business entity or a 23 supplier or on-site service provider of the cov- 24 ered business entity, and includes, if applicable, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1434 IS men and women, migrant workers and local 1 workers, workers on different shifts, workers 2 performing different tasks, and members of var- 3 ious teams; 4 (B) if individuals under the age of 18 are 5 working at a facility of the covered business en- 6 tity or a supplier or on-site service provider of 7 the covered business entity, interview a rep- 8 resentative group of such individuals using age- 9 sensitive interview techniques; 10 (C) conduct interviews— 11 (i) off-site of any facility of the cov- 12 ered business entity or a supplier or on-site 13 service provider of the covered business en- 14 tity and during non-work hours for the 15 worker; 16 (ii) individually (except for purposes 17 of subparagraph (B)) or in groups; and 18 (iii) using methods of communication 19 that limit, to the greatest extent prac- 20 ticable, any reliance on devices or services 21 provided to the worker by the covered busi- 22 ness entity or any supplier or on-site serv- 23 ice provider of the covered business entity; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1434 IS (D) use audit tools to ensure that each 1 worker is asked a comprehensive set of ques- 2 tions; 3 (E) collect from interviewed workers copies 4 of the workers’ pay stubs, in order to compare 5 the pay stubs with payment records provided by 6 the covered business entity or any supplier or 7 on-site service provider of the covered business 8 entity; 9 (F) ensure that all worker responses are 10 confidential and are never shared with manage- 11 ment personnel of the covered business entity or 12 any supplier or on-site service provider of the 13 covered business entity; and 14 (G) interview a representative of the labor 15 organization or other organization representing 16 workers at a facility of the covered business en- 17 tity or any supplier or on-site service provider 18 of the covered business entity or, if no such or- 19 ganization is present, attempt to interview a 20 representative of such workers from a local 21 worker advocacy group. 22 (2) MANAGEMENT INTERVIEWS.—The auditor 23 shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1434 IS (A) interview a cross-section of manage- 1 ment personnel of the covered business entity or 2 any supplier or on-site service provider of the 3 covered business entity, including human re- 4 sources personnel, production supervisors, and 5 others; and 6 (B) use audit tools to ensure that such in- 7 dividuals are asked a comprehensive set of 8 questions. 9 (3) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—The auditor 10 shall conduct a thorough review of information re- 11 garding the covered business entity and any supplier 12 or on-site service provider of the covered business 13 entity to provide tangible proof of compliance with 14 child labor laws in the United States, including any 15 Federal or State child labor law, and to corroborate 16 or find discrepancies in the information gathered 17 through the worker and management interviews 18 under paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively. At a 19 minimum, such review shall contain, with respect to 20 the covered business entity and any supplier or on- 21 site service provider of the covered business entity, 22 a review of each of the following: 23 (A) Procedures and documents with re- 24 spect to verifying the age of workers. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1434 IS (B) A master list of juvenile workers or in- 1 formation related to juvenile workers. 2 (C) Procedures regarding the selection and 3 recruitment of workers. 4 (D) Contracts with labor brokers, if any. 5 (E) Worker contracts and other employ- 6 ment agreements. 7 (F) Introduction program materials. 8 (G) Personnel files of workers. 9 (H) Worker communication and training 10 plans, including certifications provided to work- 11 ers including skills training, worker prepared- 12 ness, government certification programs, and 13 systems or policy orientations. 14 (I) Collective bargaining agreements, in- 15 cluding collective bargaining representative cer- 16 tifications, descriptions of the role of any appli- 17 cable labor organization, and minutes of the 18 meetings of such a labor organization. 19 (J) Contracts with any security agency, 20 and descriptions of the scope of responsibilities 21 of the security agency. 22 (K) Payroll and time records. 23 (L) Production capacity reports. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1434 IS (M) Written human resources policies and 1 procedures. 2 (N) Occupational health and safety plans 3 and records including legal permits, mainte- 4 nance and monitoring records, injury and acci- 5 dent reports, investigation procedures, chemical 6 inventories, personal protective equipment in- 7 ventories, training certificates, and evacuation 8 plans. 9 (O) Disciplinary notices. 10 (P) Grievance reports. 11 (Q) Performance evaluations. 12 (R) Promotion or merit increase records. 13 (S) Dismissal and suspension records of 14 workers. 15 (T) Records of workers who have resigned. 16 (U) Worker pay stubs. 17 (4) CLOSING MEETING WITH MANAGEMENT.— 18 The auditor shall hold a closing meeting with man- 19 agement personnel of the covered business entity 20 to— 21 (A) report violations of child labor laws in 22 the United States, including any Federal or 23 State child labor law, found in any facility of 24 the covered business entity or any supplier or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1434.IS S1434 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1434 IS on-site service provider [Text truncated for display. 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