II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 671 

To exempt certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in logging 

operations from child labor laws. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2023 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. SCOTT of 

South Carolina, and Mr. CORNYN) 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Future Logging Ca5 reers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR LOGGING OP7 ERATIONS. 

8 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 

9 201 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 3 (29 U.S.C. 203), by adding at 

2 the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(z) ‘Logging operation’— 

4 ‘‘(1) means— 

5 ‘‘(A) a mechanized operation; 

6 ‘‘(B) the bucking or converting of timber 

7 into logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical 

8 wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or 

9 similar products; 

10 ‘‘(C) the collecting, skidding, yarding, load11 ing, transporting, or unloading of such products 

12 in connection with the activities described in 

13 this paragraph; 

14 ‘‘(D) the constructing, repairing, or main15 taining of— 

16 ‘‘(i) roads or camps used in connec17 tion with the activities described in this 

18 paragraph; or 

19 ‘‘(ii) machinery or equipment used in 

20 the activities described in this paragraph; 

21 or 

22 ‘‘(E) any other work performed in connec23 tion with the activities described in this para24 graph; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) does not include the manual use of 

2 chainsaws to fell or process timber or the use of 

3 cable skidders to bring the timber to the landing. 

4 ‘‘(aa) ‘Mechanized operation’— 

5 ‘‘(1) means the felling, skidding, yarding, load6 ing, or processing of timber by equipment other than 

7 manually operated chainsaws or cable skidders; and 

8 ‘‘(2) includes the use of whole tree processors, 

9 cut-to-length processors, stroke boom delimbers, 

10 wheeled and track feller-bunchers, pull-through 

11 delimbers, wheeled and track forwarders, chippers, 

12 grinders, mechanical debarkers, wheeled and track 

13 grapple skidders, yarders, bulldozers, excavators, 

14 and log loaders.’’; and 

15 (2) in section 13(c) (29 U.S.C. 213(c)), by add16 ing at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(8) The provisions of section 12 relating to child 

18 labor shall apply to an employee who is 16 or 17 years 

19 old employed in a logging operation in an occupation that 

20 the Secretary of Labor finds and declares to be particu21 larly hazardous for the employment of children ages 16 

22 or 17, except where such employee is employed by his par23 ent or by a person standing in the place of his parent in 


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1 a logging operation owned or operated by such parent or 

2 person.’’. 

Æ 


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