119-s509

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 509 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 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

 February 11, 2025

 Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. King, Ms. Collins, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Cornyn, 
and Mr. Sheehy) 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Future Logging Careers Act''.

SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR LOGGING OPERATIONS.

 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is 
amended--

    (1) in 

section 3 (29 U.S.C. 203), by adding at the end the 
 following:
 ``

    (z) `Logging operation'--
 ``

    (1) means--
 ``
        (A) a mechanized operation;
 ``
        (B) the bucking or converting of timber into 
 logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical wood, 
 excelsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or similar 
 products;
 ``
            (C) the collecting, skidding, yarding, loading, 
 transporting, or unloading of such products in 
 connection with the activities described in this 
 paragraph;
 ``
            (D) the constructing, repairing, or maintaining 
 of--
 ``
            (i) roads or camps used in connection 
 with the activities described in this 
 paragraph; or
 ``
            (ii) machinery or equipment used in the 
 activities described in this paragraph; or
 ``
        (E) any other work performed in connection with 
 the activities described in this paragraph; and
 ``

    (2) does not include the manual use of chainsaws to fell 
 or process timber or the use of cable skidders to bring the 
 timber to the landing.
 ``

    (aa) `Mechanized operation'--
 ``

    (1) means the felling, skidding, yarding, loading, or 
 processing of timber by equipment other than manually operated 
 chainsaws or cable skidders; and
 ``

    (2) includes the use of whole tree processors, cut-to-
 length processors, stroke boom delimbers, wheeled and track 
 feller-bunchers, pull-through delimbers, wheeled and track 
 forwarders, chippers, grinders, mechanical debarkers, wheeled 
 and track grapple skidders, yarders, bulldozers, excavators, 
 and log loaders.''; and

    (2) in 

section 13
            (c) (29 U.S.C. 213
            (c) ), by adding at the 
 end the following:
 ``

    (8) The provisions of 

section 12 relating to child labor shall 
apply to an employee who is 16 or 17 years old employed in a logging 
operation in an occupation that the Secretary of Labor finds and 
declares to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children 
ages 16 or 17, except where such employee is employed by his parent or 
by a person standing in the place of his parent in a logging operation 
owned or operated by such parent or person.''.
 <all>