Child Labor

DeSantis signed HB 49 on Friday, which allows businesses to work minors older than 16-years-old more than 30 hours a week if the employer gets parental permission.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that will loosen work restrictions for 16- and 17-year-old youths.

The bill is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis. It includes 30-hour work-week limits for 16- and 17-year-olds that could be waived by parents.

The bill allows businesses to work minors older than 16-years-old more than 30 hours a week only if they obtain parental permission via a state-sanctioned form.

The Senate approved a House bill Thursday that allows businesses to work minors older than 16-years-old more than 30 hours a week if they obtain parental permission via a state-sanctioned form.

This week on The Florida Roundup, we discuss proposed changes to the state’s child labor laws, the current state of journalism and American democracy, houselessness in Florida, a new Orlando-area volleyball team, and a new documentary exploring how Black baseball players built a brand of baseball out of segregation and into a worldwide pastime.

The bill would let 16- and 17-year-olds work more than 30 hours a week during the school year, and work past 11 p.m. on school nights.

The federal government is currently doing more than ten times the enforcement of existing child labor law compared to Florida, even though Florida law is currently more strict than the federal government. Now, some lawmakers want to weaken Florida child labor law.

The Florida Senate is trying to distance itself from a controversial house proposal that would roll back child labor laws.

A proposed controversial bill set to roll back child labor protections in Florida passed its second committee stop Wednesday, but further changes are likely coming due to differences in its Senate companion.

Florida lawmakers will consider a proposal to loosen the state's child labor laws. Supporters say it will encourage more youth labor participation and teach responsibility, while opponents see it as a pathway to use kids to shore up the state's labor shortages.

The bill would delete part of state law that says minors who are age 16 or 17 can’t work before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. or for more than eight hours when school is scheduled the next day.