Preventing Child Labor Exploitation in Federal Contracting Act

Bill: 119-s-920
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO]
Introduced: 2025-03-10
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Latest action: action_date: 2025-03-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 920 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 10, 2025 Mr. Hawley (for himself and Mr. Booker ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To ensure that Federal contractors comply with child labor laws, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Preventing Child Labor Exploitation in Federal Contracting Act . 2. Definitions In this Act: (1) Appropriate committees of Congress The term appropriate committees of Congress means— (A) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives. (2) Executive agency The term executive agency has the meaning given such term in section 133 of title 41, United States Code. (3) Secretary The term Secretary means the Secretary of Labor. 3. Promotion of workplace accountability (a) Required representations and certifications Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to— (1) require any entity that enters into a contract with an executive agency to represent, on an annual basis and to the best of the knowledge of the entity, whether, within the preceding 3-year period, any final administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or civil judgment, as defined in coordination with the Secretary, has been issued against the entity for any violation of section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 212 ), relating to child labor; (2) provide (through a revision of the Certification Regarding Knowledge of Child Labor for Listed End Products as described in section 52.222–18 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation or through, if necessary, another certification) a requirement that an offeror— (A) certify, to the best of the knowledge of the offeror, whether, within the preceding 3-year period, any final administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or civil judgment, as defined in coordination with the Secretary, for a violation described in paragraph (1) has been issued against the offeror; and (B) require such a certification from each of the subcontractors or service providers to be used in performing, or that were considered for the performance of, the contract for which the offeror is submitting an offer and provide such certifications with the certification by the offeror under subparagraph (A); (3) prohibit executive agencies from awarding a contract to— (A) an entity that provides an affirmative response to a representation under paragraph (1) and has failed to implement any corrective measure negotiated under subsection (b); or (B) an offeror that— (i) provides an affirmative response to a certification under paragraph (2) and has failed to implement any corrective measure negotiated under subsection (b); or (ii) intends to use a subcontractor or service provider in the performance of the contract that was identified as having a violation in such an affirmative response and has failed to implement any corrective measure negotiated under such subsection; (4) require the name and address of each entity that provides an affirmative response to a representation under paragraph (1), and the name and address of each offeror, subcontractor, or service provider identified as having a violation in an affirmative response to a certification under paragraph (2), to be referred to the Secretary for purposes of negotiating with that entity, offeror, subcontractor, or service provider on corrective measures under subsection (b) and preparing the list and conducting suspension and debarment proceedings under subsection (c); (5) provide procedures for consultation with the Secretary by an offeror described in paragraph (2) to assist the offeror in evaluating the information on compliance with section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, relating to child labor, submitted to the offeror by a subcontractor or service provider pursuant to such paragraph; and (6) make any other changes necessary to implement the requirements of this Act. (b) Corrective measures An entity that makes an affirmative response to a representation under subsection (a)(1) or offeror, subcontractor, or service provider that makes an affirmative response in a certification under subsection (a)(2)— (1) shall update the representation or certification, respectively, based on any steps taken by the entity, offeror, subcontractor, or service provider to correct a violation of or improve compliance with section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, relating to child labor, including any agreements entered into with the Secretary; and (2) may negotiate with the Secretary regarding corrective measures that the entity, offeror, subcontractor, or service provider may take in order to avoid being placed on the list under subsection (c) and referred for suspension and debarment proceedings under such subsection, in the case the entity, offeror, subcontractor, or service provider meets the criteria for such list and proceedings under such subsection. (c) List of ineligible entities (1) In general For each calendar year beginning with the first calendar year that begins after the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coordination with other executive agencies as necessary, shall prepare a list and conduct suspension and debarment proceedings for— (A) each entity that provided an affirmative response to a representation under subsection (a)(1) and has failed to implement any corrective measure negotiated under subsection (b) for the year of the list; and (B) each offeror, subcontractor, or service provider that was identified as having a violation in an affirmative response to a certification under subsection (a)(2) and has failed to implement any corrective measure negotiated under subsection (b) for the year of the list. (2) Ineligibility (A) In general The head of an executive agency shall not, during the period of time described in subparagraph (B), solicit offers from, award contracts to, or consent to subcontracts with any entity, offeror, subcontractor, or service provider that is listed— (i) under paragraph (1); and (ii) as an active exclusion in the System for Award Management. (B) Period of time The period of time described in this subparagraph is a period of time determined by the suspension and debarment official that is not less than 4 years from the date on which the entity, offeror, subcontractor, or service provider is listed as an exclusion in the System for Award Management. (3) Additional considerations In determining the entities to consider for suspension and debarment proceedings under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure procedures for such determination are consistent with the procedures set forth in subpart 9.4 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation for the suspension and debarment of Federal contractors. (d) Penalties for failure To report (1) Offense It shall be unlawful for a person to knowingly fail to make a representation or certification required under paragraph (1) or (2), respectively, of subsection (a). (2) Penalty (A) In general A violation of paragraph (1) shall be referred by any executive agency with knowledge of such violation for suspension and debarment proceedings, to be conducted by the suspension and debarment official of the Department of Labor. (B) Loss to government A violation of paragraph (1) shall be subject to the penalties under sections 3729 through 3733 of title 31, United States Code (commonly known as the False Claims Act ). (e) Annual reports to Congress For each calendar year beginning with the first calendar year that begins after the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress, and make publicly available on a public website, a report that includes— (1) the number of entities, offerors, subcontractors, or service providers on the list under subsection (c) for the year of the report; (2) the number of entities, offerors, subcontractors, or service providers that agreed to take corrective measures under subsection (b) for such year; (3) the amount of the applicable contracts for the entities, offerors, subcontractors, or service providers described in paragraph (1) or (2); and (4) an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of this Act for such year. 4. Civil penalties collected for child labor law violations (a) Amounts (1) In general Section 16(e)(1)(A) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)(A) ) is amended— (A) by aligning the left margins of clauses (i) and (ii) with the left margin of clause (i) of section 16(e)(1)(B) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)(B) ); (B) in clause (i), by striking $11,000 and inserting $100,000 ; and (C) in clause (ii), by striking $50,000 and inserting $500,000 . (2) Effective date The amendments made by paragraph (1) shall be applicable to violations occurring on or after the date of enactment of this Act. (b) Application of penalties Section 16(e)(5) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 216(e)(5) ) is amended— (1) by striking Except and all that follows through sums and inserting Sums ; and (2) by striking the second sentence. 5. Training with respect to child labor law violations The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq. ) is amended by inserting after section 18D ( 42 U.S.C. 218d ) the following: 18E. Training with respect to child labor law violations The Secretary shall establish programs to provide training for relevant personnel at the Department of Labor and other executive agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, on identifying and preventing violations of section 12. . 6. GAO study Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study on the prevalence of violations of section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 212 ), relating to child labor, among Federal contractors and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report with the findings of the study. 7. No additional funds No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this Act.