Mini-Post: Going Backward

The Republicans are worried with all the immigrants fleeing Florida they are concerned that the low cost labor will be non-existent! So...

Measure to roll back child labor laws now goes to House for consideration

Separate bill OK-ing subminimum wage may be dead in Senate.

Florida Phoenix

By: Mitch Perry

April 22, 2025

A significant rollback for child labor laws in Florida received approval in its third and final committee stop in the House on Tuesday. The same bill would speed up a state preemption of local living-wage laws in nearly a dozen cities and counties.

It added insult to injury to its critics via a late-filed amendment that would speed up a preemption against local-living wage laws in nearly a dozen Florida cities and counties that require their contractors to pay employees a wage that’s higher than the state’s minimum.

The original proposal (HB 1225), sponsored by Brevard freshman Republican Rep. Monique Miller, would allow employers during the school year to schedule any 16- and 17-year-old Floridian to work for unlimited hours and days without breaks. It would also allow employers to schedule 14- and 15-year-olds who have graduated from high school or are home or virtual-school students for unlimited hours and days without breaks.

Those specific provisions would repeal the existing prohibition on scheduling 16- and 17-year olds from working more than 8 hours in any day when school is scheduled for the next day, except when the day or work falls on a holiday or Sunday. It would repeal the limit for scheduling a 16- and 17-year-old to work no more than 30 hours in one week.

Then they justify it with this kicker,

“Due to resurgence of apprenticeships and such, we want to reduce barriers to teenagers learning their trade and getting prepared for their careers,” Miller told the House Commerce Committee. “There are currently certain waiver programs that give government the power to decide whether or not teenagers should work. I believe that power rests with the parents.”

Oh yeah... apprenticeship at McDonalds or Kohls!

The Republicans want to bring us back to the age of the Robber Barons!

Two young boys standing on electric looms in order to reach the top shelf while at work in a cotton mill in Georgia. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).