Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens detection, accountability, and penalties to reduce child labor in federal contracting and increases transparency, but it raises compliance costs and legal risks for contractors and may be underfunded so implementation could divert agency resources or fail to fully materialize.
Children and youth: The bill increases protections by requiring contractors to disclose and correct child-labor violations, raising penalties, funding agency training, and commissioning a GAO study — together these measures make it more likely that illegal child labor in federal contracting will be detected and reduced.
Taxpayers and Congress: The bill creates public annual lists and reporting requirements (and a GAO study) that increase transparency and provide lawmakers evidence to hold contractors accountable for child-labor violations.
Federal employees/agencies: Mandatory cross-agency training (DOL, HHS, DHS) should improve identification, prevention, and interagency coordination when investigating child-labor violations.
Government contractors, subcontractors, and their workers: Entities that admit past child-labor violations (or are suspended/debarred) risk being barred from federal contracting, causing substantial revenue loss, job impacts, and potential disruption or delays in federal supply chains.
Small businesses and subcontractors: New compliance, reporting, and certification collection requirements plus higher statutory fines increase administrative costs and financial risk, which could strain or close small employers and raise costs across contractor supply chains.
Government contractors: False or negligent certifications exposing firms to False Claims Act liability create significant litigation risk and potential large financial penalties for offerors.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 10, 2025 by Joshua David Hawley · Last progress March 10, 2025
Requires federal contracting rules to force offerors and their subcontractors to publicly certify they have not committed child-labor violations in the prior three years, and blocks contract awards to entities that acknowledge such violations but fail to implement corrective measures negotiated with the Department of Labor. The measure raises civil penalties for child-labor violations, directs the Department of Labor to set up training for agency and Department personnel on identifying and preventing child-labor violations, orders a GAO study on contractor child-labor violations, and mandates public reporting — all without providing new federal appropriations.