February 11, 2025
Mr. Golden of Maine (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Ms. Pingree, and Mr. Fulcher) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in timber harvesting entities or mechanized timber harvesting entities from child labor laws, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Future in Logging Careers Act
.
Sec. 2. Child labor law exemptions for timber harvesting entities and mechanized timber harvesting entities
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)
(1)
Timber harvesting employer means an employer engaged in—
(A)
the felling, skidding, yarding, loading and processing of timber by equipment other than manually operated chainsaws and cable skidders;
(B)
the felling of timber in mechanized operations;
(C)
the bucking or converting of timber into logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or similar products;
(D)
the collecting, skidding, yarding, loading, transporting and unloading of such products in connection with logging;
(E)
the constructing, repairing and maintaining of roads or camps used in connection with logging; the constructing, repairing, and maintenance of machinery or equipment used in logging; and
(F)
other work performed in connection with logging.
(2)
Mechanized timber harvesting employer—
(A)
means an employer engaged in the felling, skidding, yarding, loading and processing of timber by equipment other than manually operated chainsaws and cable skidders; and
(B)
includes an employer engaged in the use of whole tree processors, cut-to-length processors, stroke boom delimbers, wheeled and track feller-bunchers, pull thru 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 by a timber harvesting employer or mechanized timber harvesting employer 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 a timber harvesting employer or mechanized timber harvesting employer owned or operated by a parent or a person standing in the place of a parent of such employee.