The bill, which passed unanimously out of the House, faced scrutiny on the Senate floor from a handful of Republican legislators. Two senators criticized a provision that would increase the maximum penalty per child labor violation from $1,000 to $10,000.
Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, said a fine in that amount would “crush most small businesses.”
If your small business sucks so bad that it depends on child labor and would STILL be crushed by a $10k fine, it does not deserve to be in business. Full stop.
Also, $10k is too low. Criminal charges need to start being brought.
After what we went through as a Nation dealing with this until the Keating–Owen Act of 1916 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 were passed, it's sad Federal enforcement is being handed down to states for this.
It'd be darkly funny if this bill was sponsored and partially drafted by large corporations, so that they can afford to continue using child labour, affording them a competitive edge over small businesses which can no longer afford to.