Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Signs Bill To Eliminate Some Child Labor Protections, Stirring Debate

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed a bill into law that would eliminate a major child labor protection law in the state.

The bill, which was signed by Sanders in early March 2023, eliminates a measure that required employers to procure work certificates for children who are below the age of 16.

“The governor believes protecting kids is most important, but this permit was an arbitrary burden on parents to get permission from the government for their child to get a job,” Sanders’ spokesperson Alexa Henning declared in a statement. “All child labor laws that actually protect children still apply and we expect businesses to comply just as they are required to do now.”

Minors under the age of 16 originally needed to verify their age and get their parents’ or guardians’ written consent before the state’s Division of Labor sent out a work certificate.

House Bill 1410, known as the Youth Hiring Act of 2023, which passed the Arkansas state legislature in early March 2023, eliminates the requirement that children under 16 have a work certificate as a prerequisite of their employment.

The passage of this bill came after the Biden administration announced in February plans to crack down on labor exploitation of migrant children across the United States.

Advocates of the legislation claimed that removing this certificate would also remove a burdensome step that prevented minors from quickly getting a job in Arkansas.

They argued that the bill would allow parents to make decisions about their children and make the hiring process for minors more efficient.

However, those against the legislation argued that the work certificate helped protect vulnerable children, especially immigrant children. They might not always have parents or guardians to sign off for them to work and might be exploited if they do not have that certificate.

“When we think about kids working who are 14, we think about who this might protect, it’s not the 14-year-old who’s working at the ice cream parlor in your hometown, whose parents have given them permission to work,” Laura Kellams, the northwest Arkansas director of the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a group supporting children’s rights in the state, addressed during a committee hearing on the bill. “We’re worried about the children who are at risk of being exploited and who are being exploited today.”

Before Sanders signed this bill, a major U.S. food sanitation company managing facilities in eight states, including Arkansas, paid a $1.5 million civil penalty for employing minors in hazardous working conditions.

Packers Sanitation Services unlawfully employed 102 children between ages 13 and 17 in jobs where they had to use toxic chemicals and sharp saws.

Under federal law, people under 16 cannot work in hazardous positions and are limited to the times of day and amount of hours each week they can work.

The former press secretary to former President Donald Trump, Sanders revealed in her memoir, Speaking for Myself, that he told her to “take one for the team” after seeing that the North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un was flirting with her during the 2018 Singapore Summit.