I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1397 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 7, 2023 
Mr. GOLDEN of Maine (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Ms. PIN-
GREE, and Mr. FULCHER) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt 
certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in tim-
ber harvesting entities or mechanized timber harvesting 
entities from child labor laws, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Future in Logging Ca-
reers Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR TIMBER HAR-
VESTING ENTITIES AND MECHANIZED TIM-
BER 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 em-
ployer engaged in— 
‘‘(A) the felling, skidding, yarding, loading and 
processing of timber by equipment other than manu-
ally operated chainsaws and cable skidders; 
‘‘(B) the felling of timber in mechanized oper-
ations; 
‘‘(C) the bucking or converting of timber into 
logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical wood, ex-
celsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or similar prod-
ucts; 
‘‘(D) the collecting, skidding, yarding, loading, 
transporting and unloading of such products in con-
nection with logging; 
‘‘(E) the constructing, repairing and maintain-
ing of roads or camps used in connection with log-
ging; the constructing, repairing, and maintenance 
of machinery or equipment used in logging; and 
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‘‘(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 chain-
saws 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 debark-
ers, wheeled and track grapple skidders, yarders, 
bulldozers, excavators, and log loaders.’’; and 
(2) in section 13(c) (29 U.S.C. 213(c)), by add-
ing 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 em-
ployer or mechanized timber harvesting employer in 
an occupation that the Secretary of Labor finds and 
declares to be particularly hazardous for the employ-
ment of children ages 16 or 17, except where such 
employee is employed by a timber harvesting em-
ployer or mechanized timber harvesting employer 
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owned or operated by a parent or a person standing 
in the place of a parent of such employee.’’. 
Æ 
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