Future in Logging Careers Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Future in Logging Careers Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to define timber harvesting employers and mechanized timber harvesting employers. It then adds an exception to federal child-labor hazardous-occupation restrictions for 16- and 17-year-old employees working for a timber harvesting or mechanized timber harvesting employer owned or operated by the employee's parent or a person standing in the place of a parent.
Who Benefits and How
Family-owned logging businesses benefit because they may employ their own 16- and 17-year-old children in covered timber-harvesting work even when the Department of Labor has treated the occupation as particularly hazardous for minors. Teenagers in logging families benefit from earlier work experience in mechanized logging, road or camp maintenance, equipment maintenance, loading, transporting, and related logging operations. Mechanized timber harvesting employers benefit from clearer statutory definitions covering equipment such as feller-bunchers, processors, forwarders, skidders, yarders, bulldozers, excavators, and log loaders.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division must apply the new employer definitions and parental-ownership exception when enforcing child-labor rules. Non-family logging employers remain subject to hazardous-occupation restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds. Teen logging workers in parent-owned operations may face higher safety risk because the exception allows work in occupations otherwise found particularly hazardous for that age group.
Key Provisions
- Creates a timber harvesting employer definition covering felling, skidding, yarding, loading, processing, transporting, road and camp work, equipment maintenance, and other logging work.
- Creates a mechanized timber harvesting employer definition covering mechanized logging operations and specified heavy equipment used in timber harvesting.
- Limits federal hazardous-occupation child-labor restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds when the teenager works for a timber harvesting employer owned or operated by a parent or person standing in the place of a parent.
- Amends section 13(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act to place the parent-owned logging exception in the child-labor rule.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds timber-harvesting employer definitions to the Fair Labor Standards Act and creates a parent-owned logging exception for certain hazardous-occupation child-labor restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Key Policy Areas
Labor, Forestry, Small Business
Primary Purpose
Adds timber-harvesting employer definitions to the Fair Labor Standards Act and creates a parent-owned logging exception for certain hazardous-occupation child-labor restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Policy Domains
Family logging child-labor exception
Identified Gains
- Family-owned logging businesses
- Teenagers working in parent-owned logging businesses
- Mechanized timber harvesting employers
Identified Costs
- Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division staff
- Teen logging workers in parent-owned operations
- Non-family logging employers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Golden of Maine (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, …
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary_of_labor"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "timber_harvesting_employer"
- → Timber harvesting employer
- "mechanized_timber_harvesting_employer"
- → Mechanized timber harvesting employer
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An employer engaged in felling, skidding, yarding, loading, and processing timber using mechanized equipment rather than manually operated chainsaws and cable skidders.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology