CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

April 25, 2024 01:56 PM UTC

Child Labor, That Classic Republican Blind Spot

1 Comments
by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday the Colorado House passed House Bill 24-1095, legislation to increase penalties on employers who violate child labor law. From a House Democratic majority press release:

“Over the years, Colorado has made important progress to improve child labor laws – but we must ensure violators are held accountable for their actions,” said Rep. Sheila Lieder, D-Littleton. “Under current law, businesses face small or non-existent fines for child labor violations that could be putting our youth at risk. Our bill would significantly increase financial penalties to hold bad actors accountable, and importantly, keep our youth safe. We’re also committed to protecting those who speak out about child labor violations from retaliation, and this bill sets up guidelines to ensure those whistleblowers are protected.”

“We need to ensure our state’s child labor laws are working as intended – the health and safety of our youth depends on it,” said Rep. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder. “This bill encourages violation reporting, improves transparency around enforcement measures, and increases penalties for violations of these common sense protections. Outlined in the bill are additional whistleblower protections to keep those who report child labor violations safe from retaliation. At the end of the day, we need to ensure our businesses are operating lawfully and our youth is protected, and this bill brings us closer to that important goal.”

HB24-1095 would update the Colorado Youth Employment Opportunity Act of 1971 and strengthen the penalty structure. Under current law, first-time child labor law violators face no fines or fines of only a few hundred dollars. This bill would raise total employer liability to $750 for first-time offenses and $10,000 for willful or repeated offenses. HB24-1095 would also remove legal disincentives that keep victims of child labor violations from reporting and protect child workers from employer retaliation.

Seems like a pretty uncontroversial idea, doesn’t it? You wouldn’t know it from the party-line vote on the bill yesterday morning:

There reportedly wasn’t much debate over this bill compared to so many others this session that Republicans have not just voted against but vociferously objected to until being finally gaveled down, but the Colorado House GOP’s unanimous stand against this bill to increase penalties for child labor violations is consistent with Republican attempts across the country to weaken child labor laws over the past few years. ABC News reported on the trend in February:

According to the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute, at least 30 states have introduced or passed bills to weaken child labor protections since 2021 — and in nine of those states, legislation has been introduced to expand youth employment in hazardous occupations or workplaces.

In this year alone, 11 states have introduced or taken new action on bills to roll back child labor protections in 2024, according to EPI.

“It is immoral and inappropriate and utterly the wrong decision to roll back child labor law,” said Terri Gerstein, the director of a labor initiative at New York University. “All that weakening and rolling back child labor laws is going to do is create more kids whose fingers and hands, legs are amputated who are killed on the job.”

Republicans with no majority power in our state can’t hope to roll back child labor laws here like their colleagues are doing elsewhere, but by voting against increasingly child labor law violation penalties they’re signaling what they would do if they had control of the legislature and governor’s mansion. Like abortion rights until this year’s constitutional protections pass, it’s another issue where Democrats can show plausibly that the state is only one election away from catastrophe.

It undeniably puts an alternative spin on the “party of family values.”

One thought on “Child Labor, That Classic Republican Blind Spot”

notaskinnycook says:

April 26, 2024 at 8:57 am

It says a lot about the micro-minority that they oppose this law; especially as most of the violations are for employing young, unaccompanied migrants who have no one to protect them.

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Child Labor, That Classic Republican Blind Spot

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One thought on “Child Labor, That Classic Republican Blind Spot”

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