One bill that has had people asking questions continues to make its way through both legislative chambers.

Iowa House Representative for District 23 Ray Sorensen says that he’s heard some concerns about the bill that makes some changes to child labor laws, but that the majority of them are unfounded. He mentions that one concern he’s heard is that teenagers would be able to work with different chemicals, but states that that is not in the bill at any point. Sorensen tells Raccoon Valley Radio that another concern he’s heard is that it requires teenagers to work, but that that isn’t true either.

“Again, this isn’t forcing anybody to work. This is just those teenagers that are at that point in their life, especially the ones with driver’s licenses and able to get to work. And maybe they’re not involved in a sport, or at least a sport at that time, and they’re able to get a part time job at a grocery store or a restaurant. We need that influx of help in that industry.”

Sorensen adds that what the bill does do is allow teenagers to work later, explaining that if these teenagers and their peers can drive home late after a sporting event, they should be able to work inside that same time frame. He also says that it would allow servers under the age of 18 to serve alcoholic beverages at restaurants, but explains this just means that they can take the drink from where it is opened or made to the table, not work behind a bar.