II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 509
To exempt certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in logging
operations from child labor laws.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Mr. R
ISCH(for himself, Mr. KING, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. CORNYN,
and Mr. S
HEEHY) 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-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Future Logging Ca-4
reers Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR LOGGING OP-6
ERATIONS. 7
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 8
201 et seq.) is amended— 9
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•S 509 IS
(1) in section 3 (29 U.S.C. 203), by adding at 1
the end the following: 2
‘‘(z) ‘Logging operation’— 3
‘‘(1) means— 4
‘‘(A) a mechanized operation; 5
‘‘(B) the bucking or converting of timber 6
into logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical 7
wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or 8
similar products; 9
‘‘(C) the collecting, skidding, yarding, load-10
ing, transporting, or unloading of such products 11
in connection with the activities described in 12
this paragraph; 13
‘‘(D) the constructing, repairing, or main-14
taining of— 15
‘‘(i) roads or camps used in connec-16
tion with the activities described in this 17
paragraph; or 18
‘‘(ii) machinery or equipment used in 19
the activities described in this paragraph; 20
or 21
‘‘(E) any other work performed in connec-22
tion with the activities described in this para-23
graph; and 24
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•S 509 IS
‘‘(2) does not include the manual use of 1
chainsaws to fell or process timber or the use of 2
cable skidders to bring the timber to the landing. 3
‘‘(aa) ‘Mechanized operation’— 4
‘‘(1) means the felling, skidding, yarding, load-5
ing, or processing of timber by equipment other than 6
manually operated chainsaws or cable skidders; and 7
‘‘(2) includes the use of whole tree processors, 8
cut-to-length processors, stroke boom delimbers, 9
wheeled and track feller-bunchers, pull-through 10
delimbers, wheeled and track forwarders, chippers, 11
grinders, mechanical debarkers, wheeled and track 12
grapple skidders, yarders, bulldozers, excavators, 13
and log loaders.’’; and 14
(2) in section 13(c) (29 U.S.C. 213(c)), by add-15
ing at the end the following: 16
‘‘(8) The provisions of section 12 relating to child 17
labor shall apply to an employee who is 16 or 17 years 18
old employed in a logging operation in an occupation that 19
the Secretary of Labor finds and declares to be particu-20
larly hazardous for the employment of children ages 16 21
or 17, except where such employee is employed by his par-22
ent or by a person standing in the place of his parent in 23
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•S 509 IS
a logging operation owned or operated by such parent or 1
person.’’. 2
Æ
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