May 5, 2025

Statement on Extended Legislative Session and Child Labor Protections

Florida Policy Institute (FPI) today released a statement regarding the extended legislative session and the state’s child labor law. The Florida House and the Florida Senate last week adopted a concurrent resolution (HCR 1631) to extend the state’s 2025 regular legislative session through June 6.  Legislation that would have rolled back the state's child labor law, HB 1225 and SB 918, were not among the bills outlined in the resolution. According to the resolution, all measures not listed in HCR 1631 are "indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration."

The bills, HB 1225 and SB 918, would have allowed employers to schedule all 16- and 17-year-old Floridians for more than eight hours a day, over 30 hours a week, without breaks, when school is in session. The legislation also proposed undoing the same protections for children as young as 14 who have graduated high school or are home- or virtual-schooled.

Although HB 1225 passed the Florida House last month, neither the House bill nor the Senate version, SB 918, made it to the Senate floor for a vote.

The Florida Senate took an important step in protecting children by rejecting legislation that would have further eroded child labor protections in our state. This is a win for over 110,000 youth in our state currently in the labor force.

Florida Policy Institute, along with our partners, worked hard to generate awareness around the provisions in HB 1225 and SB 918, and how the legislation would put the health, safety, and education of Florida’s children at risk.

Our hope is that this issue is finally put to bed in our state, especially since polling shows that Florida voters do not support weakening these laws. Floridians -– adults and children — deserve common-sense workplace protections to prevent exploitation.

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