Sixteen states have proposed measures to address weak and outdated child labor laws in 2025 alone: Since 2021, 17 states have strengthened their child labor laws
| State | Bill status | Bill status indicator | Workers’ rights education | Workers’ rights education indicator | Child performers | Child performers indicator | Enforcement | Enforcement indicator | Hazardous work | Hazardous work indicator | Work hours | Work hours indicator | Subminimum wage | Subminimum wage indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Enacted* | 5 | SB 119 (2024): Increases civil penalty for hazardous work violations and sets minimum penalty — enacted; SB 22 (2025): Bars companies with state or federal child labor violations from Jobs Act incentives — passed Senate | 3 | ||||||||||
| Alaska | ||||||||||||||
| Arizona | Introduced | 2 | HB 2564 (2024): Protects child performers, requires parents to set up trust in their name and deposit a share of earnings into it | 2 | ||||||||||
| Arkansas | Enacted* | 5 | SB 390 (2023): Increases penalties for child labor violations; extends statute of limitations for penalty assessment from 2 to 3 years — enacted; HB 1731 (2025): Reinstates work permits — withdrawn | 3 | ||||||||||
| California | Enacted* | 5 | AB 800 (2023): Establishes Workplace Readiness Week to educate high school students about their workplace rights — enacted; AB 2961 (2024): Mandates sexual harassment training as a condition to receive a minor work permit — in committee; AB 2961 (2024): Mandates sexual harassment training as a condition to receive a minor work permit — in committee | 1 | SB 764 (2023): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos, maintain records related to their earnings, and share them with the minor. Minors not properly compensated can enforce provisions in court — passed Senate | 2 | AB 1228 (2023): Bill would have established joint liability for fast food franchises but these provisions were amended before passage — enacted; AB 1351 (20250: Moves youth work permit system online — in committee | 3 | ||||||
| Colorado | Enacted* | 5 | HB 1196 (2023): Allows injured victims of illegal child labor to pursue tort claim against employer — enacted; HB 1095 (2024): Increases penalties (and uses them for wage theft enforcement), makes aggrieved children eligible for damages, removes parental criminal liability, makes violations subject to open records requests — enacted | 3 | ||||||||||
| Connecticut | ||||||||||||||
| Delaware | ||||||||||||||
| Washington D.C. | ||||||||||||||
| Florida | ||||||||||||||
| Georgia | Failed | 1 | HB 838 (2024): Requires parents to set up a trust for child performers and deposit a share of earnings into it | 2 | ||||||||||
| Hawaii | Failed | 1 | SB 1607 (2023): Requires talent agencies and minors working in theatrical employment to receive training on sexual harassment and nutrition and eating disorders – failed | 2 | SB 397 (2025): Removes exemption for the state, political subdivisions, and the US as covered employers — failed | |||||||||
| Idaho | ||||||||||||||
| Illinois | Enacted* | 5 | HB 4417 (2024): Establishes Workplace Readiness Week to educate high school students about their workplace rights — enacted | 1 | SB 1782 (2023): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos, allows child to take legal action if not properly compensated — enacted; SB 3180 (2024): Establishes maximum hours for child performers based on age — incorporated into SB 3646 (enacted) | 2 | SB 3646 (2024): Strengthens work permit process, updates hazardous occupations list, increases civil penalties — enacted; SB 3464 (2024): Makes immigration-related retaliation (including for reports of child labor law violations) illegal — in committee | 3 | HB 1745 (2025): Lowers the maximum number of hours per week for 14-15 YOs(from 24 to 18) and clarifies that minors cannot work more than 3 hours on a school day — introduced | |||||
| Indiana | ||||||||||||||
| Iowa | Pending | 4 | SF 2100 (2024): Makes illegally employed minors injured or killed at work eligible for extra worker’s comp, imposes $5000 civil penalty on employer — introduced; HF 2292 (2024): Makes employers strictly liable for injury or death of a minor in their employ — introduced; SF 2390 (2024): Re-establishes youth work permits and increases civil penalties — in committee | 3 | SF 2390 (2024): Strengthens protections related to hazardous work — in committee | 4 | ||||||||
| Kansas | Pending | 4 | SB 559 (2024): Requires legislative review for rollback bills and requires that the secretary of labor provide a report to assist the legislature’s consideration of such bills — in committee | 3 | ||||||||||
| Kentucky | Failed | 1 | SB 52 (2025): Requires public schools to display a printed abstract of certain child labor laws, including limited and prohibited occupations and work hour restrictions for minors — withdrawn | |||||||||||
| Louisiana | ||||||||||||||
| Maine | ||||||||||||||
| Maryland | Pending | 4 | HB 160 (2024): Establishes Workplace Readiness Week to educate high school students about their workplace rights — withdrawn | 1 | ||||||||||
| Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||
| Michigan | Enacted* | 5 | HB 4932 (2023): Eliminates waiver for night work among 16-17 year-olds; increases criminal penalties; allows victims to sue for damages; adds retaliation protections — in committee; HB 5594 (2024): Updates and strengthens minor work permit process — enacted | 3 | HB 4932 (2023): Eliminates waiver for night work among 16-17 year-olds — in committee | 5 | ||||||||
| Minnesota | Enacted* | 5 | SF 3496 (2024): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos. Minors not properly compensated can enforce provisions in court | 2 | SF 3852 (2024): Makes illegally-employed minors eligible for damages, adds anti-retaliation protections, clarifies that penalties are per violation (not per child), allows labor commissioner to determine penalties using factors like business size and history of violations — enacted | 3 | HF 4050 (2024): Eliminates provision allowing minors employed by firms covered by the MN FLSA to be paid a subminimum wage — enacted as part of SF 3852 | 6 | ||||||
| Mississippi | ||||||||||||||
| Missouri | Pending | 4 | HB 1998 (2024): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos, maintain records related to their earnings, and share them with the minor. Minors not properly compensated can enforce provisions in court — in committee | 2 | HB 1536 (2024): Restricts work hours for 16-17 year-olds — in committee | 5 | ||||||||
| Montana | Enacted* | 5 | LC 1580 (2025): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos — failed | HB 112 (2023): Establishes criminal penalties for labor trafficking of a minor — enacted | 3 | |||||||||
| Nebraska | Enacted* | 5 | LB 827 (2024): Expanded workplace protections for child performers — in committee | 2 | LB 906 (2023): Increases penalties for child labor violations and broadens DOL power — enacted | 3 | ||||||||
| Nevada | Enacted | 5 | AB 215 (2025): Requires the Nevada labor commissioner to prepare and distribute an abstract of child labor laws, which employers must post in a visible location at the workplace and online — enacted | AB 215 (2025): Reduces maximum weekly hours for minors under 16 from 48 to 40 year-round (but new law still violates FLSA); prohibits overnight work for high school students ages 16 though 18 (but exempts students employed in certain occupations) — enacted | 5 | |||||||||
| New Hampshire | ||||||||||||||
| New Jersey | Mixed | 3 | S 3717 (2023): Establishes Workplace Readiness Week to educate high school students about their workplace rights — failed | 1 | S 2764 (2025): Raises minimum age in agriculture to 14 (from 12), brings ag hazardous work standards in line with non-ag standards — introduced | S 4067/A 5690 (2023): Eliminates exemptions that allow minors to be paid less than minimum wage, makes minors eligible for overtime — failed; A 2888 (2024): Eliminates exemptions that allow minors to be paid less than minimum wage, makes minors eligible for overtime — introduced | 6 | |||||||
| New Mexico | Enacted | 5 | SB 35 (2021): Eliminates subminimum wage for secondary school students — enacted | 6 | ||||||||||
| New York | Enacted* | 5 | A 8108 (2023): Establishes Workplace Readiness Week to educate high school students about their workplace rights — in committee; A 9796 (2024): Requires the department of labor to provide a document on workplace rights to any minor seeking working papers — in committee | 1 | A 9235 (2022): Establishes new penalties for violations of oppressive agricultural child labor — failed; 2025 Budget Bill: Increases civil penalties for child labor violations, moves youth work permit process online — enacted | 3 | A 9235 (2022): Increases the minimum age for farm work from 12 to 16 years of age — failed | 4 | ||||||
| North Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| North Dakota | ||||||||||||||
| Ohio | Pending | 4 | H 376 (2024): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos, maintain records related to their earnings, and share them with the minor. Minors not properly compensated can enforce provisions in court — failed | 2 | HB 150 (2025): Increases criminal penalties, directs fines to minor labor law enforcement, increases enforcement appropriations — in committee | |||||||||
| Oklahoma | ||||||||||||||
| Oregon | Enacted | 5 | HB 4004 (2024): Increases maximum civil penalty; allows labor commissioner to impose state penalties for child labor violations in addition to penalties imposed by US DOL for the same case — enacted | 3 | ||||||||||
| Pennsylvania | Pending | 4 | HB 1354 (2023): Increases criminal penalties for first and repeat violations — passed House; HB 1714 (2023: Increases criminal penalties but requires reporting on violations and enforcement to ICE and HHS — failed; HB 188 (2025): reintroduction of 2023 HB 1354 — passed House | 3 | ||||||||||
| Rhode Island | Pending | 4 | H 7019 (2024): Establishes Workplace Readiness Week to educate high school students about their workplace rights — in committee | 1 | H 7172 (2024): Eliminates provision allowing some minors to be paid a subminimum wage — in committee | 6 | ||||||||
| South Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| South Dakota | ||||||||||||||
| Tennessee | ||||||||||||||
| Texas | Enacted | 5 | HB 2459 (2023): Increases maximum penalty for child labor violations — enacted | 3 | ||||||||||
| Utah | Enacted* | 5 | SB 248 (2024): Limits hours for 14-15 year-olds to align with the FLSA. However, the bill does not align with federal law on agriculture work hours during the school day– enacted | 4 | SB 248 (2024): Aligns permitted occupations for minors 14 and under with federal law — enacted | 5 | HB 454 (2024): Eliminates a provision permitting a lower minimum wage for minors — failed | 6 | ||||||
| Vermont | ||||||||||||||
| Virginia | Enacted* | 5 | HB 2401 (2025): Requires parents to set aside earnings for children featured in monetized social media videos — enacted | 2 | HB 100 (2024): Increases civil penalties for child labor violations; sets minimum penalty — enacted | 3 | HB 876 (2022): Bans child labor on tobacco farms — failed | 4 | ||||||
| Washington | Enacted | 5 | HB 1644 (2025): Increases penalties (and adjusts them with inflation), orders the labor agency to revoke work permits under certain conditions, requires department to report annually on violations and penalties — enacted | 3 | ||||||||||
| West Virginia | ||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | ||||||||||||||
| Wyoming |
Notes: "Enacted*" indicates that a state has enacted a bill, but other bills in that state have failed or are pending legislative action. "Mixed" indicates that a state has multiple bills at different stages of the legislative process, but none have been enacted. Map last updated August 29, 2025.
Source: EPI analysis of state legislative activity and news related to child labor legislation.