A bill that passed the Iowa House and Senate makes changes to some of the child labor regulations in the state.

Some of the changes that were made included allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to work six hours per day and no more than 28 hours per week when school is in session, along with those younger teens to work until 9pm, instead of 7pm. District 24 Senator Jesse Green (R-Boone) says one of the amendments the House made were that 16- and 17-year-olds can serve alcohol with food in a restaurant setting, under the supervision of two adults. Another House amendment was about workplace harassment. The employer must notify the parent and civil rights commission of incidents of workplace harassment and provide training to teens as well.

An argument against the legislation was that this bill would impede on a student’s ability to do their homework if they can work more and longer hours. House District 47 Representative Carter Nordman (R-Panora) believes this bill doesn’t do that.

“I have to say I do find this conversation a little funny. We were hearing from Democrats that kids as young as eight-years-old could choose their gender or choose to cut off their body parts but a teenager  isn’t mature enough to work past nine o’clock. So I do find the hysteria a little hypocritical when it comes to this conversation. But remember this bill does not force anybody to work anywhere, this is a choice, and still a conversation with parents as well.”       

Green talks about the benefits of changing these laws to help with workforce issues.

“I think by opening this up a little bit, one: it allows high school kids to be able to earn money (or) more money if that’s what they want, and second: it is to help out the restaurant industry a little bit as well. So there’s dignity in work and we want to make sure that our laws are not preventing kids from working good jobs if that’s what they want.”  

The bill is awaiting Governor Kim Reynolds to be signed into law.