Children younger than 16 would be able to avoid future federal regulation and keep working on their parents’ farms under legislation passed by Missouri’s Senate.
The federal government proposed rules in 2012 that would have prevented children from doing certain farm work, and though that proposal never came into fruition, the Missouri Senate went ahead and passed its own child-labor legislation. The bill, which passed the Senate by a 33–0 vote, is now headed to the state House. The Senate measure would exempt children doing farm work from getting a work certificate and from limits on the number of hours and days they can work. Children would only need the consent of their parents to work on the family’s farm.
Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, sponsored the bill.