MIAMI – Republicans and Democrats, who are set to get back to work in January, are in disagreement over the Florida child labor laws that prevent teenagers from working nine-hour shifts or longer on school nights and over 30 hours weekly while school is in session.
Florida Rep. Linda Chaney, of St. Pete Beach, filed the Employment and Curfew of Minors bill, also known as HB 49, on Sept. 18, with the help of The Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative think tank based in Naples.
“This bill is not about children. This bill is about 16 and 17 year olds. These are youth workers that are driving automobiles. These are not children,” Chaney said on Wednesday during a hearing of the Florida House Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee.
Republican members of the subcommittee moved the bill forward with a 10-5 vote. Florida Rep. Ashley Gantt, of Miami-Dade, was among the five Democratic members of the subcommittee who voted against the bill over fear that employers will take advantage of minors.
“There is no definition of a youth worker in statute, so officially that was made up to enact the process of adultification, taking away these last few years that they have to be children and go to school and do things that children do,” Gantt said on Sunday during This Week In South Florida.
Gantt, who represents District 109, said child labor law violations have increased while Republican policies against undocumented migrants have caused the state’s labor shortage affecting mostly the hospitality, agricultural, and construction industries.
Republicans who support the bill argue impoverished families need the income and the law favors “parental rights.” Gantt said this wouldn’t be the case if employers paid a living wage to the teenagers’ parents so they don’t have to subject their children to work as adults.
Gantt said Democrats proposed six amendments, including a requirement for employers to provide the teenagers’ parents with a record of workplace sexual harassment incidents, and the subcommittee Republicans rejected these.
The Florida State Legislature is set to convene on Jan. 9 and adjourn on March 8. The Republican legislators serving in this session took office after the 2022 elections and won a 28-12 majority in the Florida State Senate and an 85-35 majority in the Florida State House.
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Watch the Dec. 17, 2023 episode of This Week In South Florida