Legislation would relax restrictions on the working hours of teenagers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A bill that would relax restrictions on working hours for Florida teenagers is moving through the state Legislature amid an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.

The bill would permit 16- and 17-year-olds to work overnight on school days and work longer than an eight-hour day before a school day. Some 14- and 15-year-olds would also be allowed to work those hours.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Jay Collins, said the measure was “a parental rights thing” and that parents can ensure their teenagers who work would not fall behind in school.

“Parents know their kids best,” he said Tuesday during a meeting of the Commerce and Tourism Committee, which approved the bill on a 5-4 vote. “I can promise you that, even though I was challenged, my mom would have smacked me with a flip-flop if my academic grades had suffered. That’s very much the same thing in most families.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been pushing a program to assist the federal government in finding and deporting migrants in the country illegally in Florida. At a recent event at the New College of Florida, DeSantis sounded supportive of the concept behind Collins’ bill.

“Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when, you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff?” the governor said.

Collins also noted that all workers would remain protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which bars hazardous working conditions for youths, among other things.

The committee meeting drew numerous public comments. Jackson Oberlink of Florida for All said the bill amounts to “exploitation” of vulnerable populations.

“Make no mistake, the children who will suffer the most under this law will be low-income, working class and migrant youth, the same communities that corporations already exploit,” Oberlink said.