Special to South Florida Times

MIAMI – A bill designed to alleviate Florida’s labor shortage by allowing teens as young as 16 to work longer hours, including in the construction industry, is drawing concerns by legislators, child protection groups and the AFL-CIO Florida Chapter.

As the bill makes its way to the Legislative Session, critics indicate rolling back child labor laws could be harmful to children despite Florida’s efforts to expand workforce and technical education for kids who may not want to attend college.

But working longer hours could also help families struggling to make ends meet, said Tallahassee Republican Senator Corey Simon who is sponsoring the bill (SB 460) to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to work more than 30 hours during a school week with less mandatory rest breaks.

But the core of critics’ concerns is allowing teenagers to work on roofs in residential and commercial construction pointing to safety issues for students lacking training.

Simon amended the bill to ban kids from working on construction and roofing jobs with ladders and scaffolds over six feet.

But it wasn’t enough to alleviate the concerns for a roster of opponents including legislators, teacher’s groups, the AFL-CIO, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Florida Education Association, League of Women Voters of Florida and Pastors for Florida Children.

They expressed opposition to the bill in a letter shared by Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and other members of the Legislature.

“We are concerned with the numerous harmful implications of these proposals,” the letter states.

Mason Dixon Polling Strategy for the Florida Policy Institute conducted a poll which found that 72 percent of registered voters are against changing the state’s child labor laws.

Critics said some employers may be inclined to take advantage of teenagers working longer hours by increasing their workload while their studies in school could suffer by working past 11 p.m. on a school night.

Shervin Jones, a Democrat from West Park, said the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits minors under the age of 18 from performing roofing jobs and other work that requires using ladders and scaffolds.

During a meeting in the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee, Jones asked Simon if he sought an opinion from the federal government on whether his proposal was a violation of any child labor laws.

Simon sidestepped Jones’ question but responded to South Florida Democratic Sen. Lori Berman’s question on what specific construction projects would teens be allowed to perform that they previously couldn’t

“I don’t know," Simon responded. “I’m not in the construction industry. I don’t know every job on a residential job site. I can imagine there are some clean-up opportunities for those students to be able to work in those areas. Drywall, some of those things.”

Simon said his bill expands career opportunities for teenagers who might not be able to afford college by learning technical education trades to prepare them for careers when they finish high school.

Jones and Broward County Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Democrat, said they support career expansion but voted against the bill because students wouldn’t be required to complete training and pass a test to earn licenses by local governments.

“This is not the child labor bill,” Osgood said. “Our kids are a lot smarter than we think they are. No, we don’t want them working instead of going to school. But for many poor kids, that’s the reality.”

According to the Orlando Weekly, Simon’s bill was encouraged by the Associated Builders and Contractors and the Florida Home Builders Association, but the Florida AFL-CIO said it was concerned over some of the bill’s language and couldn’t support it as written.

"This organization did have “serious concerns” about some of the child labor provisions, and for now opposes the measure," the organization wrote in a letter.

The House version of the bill (HB49) is being sponsored by Central Florida Republican Linda Chaney who said the measure could actually benefit students with additional skills that will give them more opportunities.

Both bills are scheduled for a vote in the Senate and House chambers this week.