HB 128-APPROVAL FOR EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS  CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced HB 128 to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said he was pinch-hitting for Representative Scott Ogan, sponsor of HB 128. It lifts some of the restrictions in statute regarding agricultural workers. Currently, when a child 17 years of age seeks employment in this state, they not only have to have the approval of their parents, but they have to fill out an application that is transmitted to the Department of Labor where it needs to be approved. It has to be sent back to the employer before they can work. During the summer months when most teen employment occurs, this can be a slow process. If there are any questions with the application, it could be set aside for additional time. Although this is kind of an arbitrary requirement, in certain businesses there are hazardous activities, which the Department of Labor has the responsibility to make sure that worker is protected (particularly under age workers). This bill provides for a pre- approval process where an employer can request the Department of Labor to come out and inspect the premises and prequalify job categories. The Department has to do that now anyhow. This bill is having them do it in advance. Then the parents can sign an approval form that can be faxed to the employer so the child can go to work on the same day. 2:10 pm SENATOR LEMAN said the amendment benefits any employer from farming, fishing to fast food restaurants. He asked if this also applied to someone who wanted to hire someone who is under 17 to fish, as well. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG replied that he thought it applied to any job that the Department felt it needed to be involved in. That could be clarified. SENATOR LEMAN said he was trying to determine current law for a child under 17 to work in a fishing operation. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said he would have to defer to the Department to answer that. MS. REBECCA NANCE-GAMEZ, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said she wanted to briefly touch on the fiscal note, but Mr. Mostriano would address Senator Leman's question. She said that they worked closely with the sponsor and think they came up with a good product that would be mutually beneficial to the Department and to the employers around the state. The fiscal note is $22,500, which basically goes to Legal Services, public notices and revising and reprinting posters and pamphlets. MR. MOSTRIANO, Director, Labor Standards and Safety, said that those under the age of 17 can work in the fish industry with certain restrictions. On a fishing boat a 17 year old can work on the boat, but can't operate any of the hydraulic equipment or things like that. They would approve a work permit for a child to work as a cabin boy or deck hand of some sort. A 14 or 15 year old wouldn't be able to do that, because it would be considered hazardous. SENATOR LEMAN said he has pictures of his family out on a boat and asked if there were exceptions for family operations. MR. MOSTRIANO replied that there are. If you are a family-owned business, they do not require a work permit nor any approval from the Department. If you owned a bar, they would not have problems with them having their child in the bar. SENATOR LEMAN asked if someone outside the family who was under 16 could do that. MR. MOSTRIANO replied that they wouldn't be allowed to do that because it is considered hazardous under the U.S. Department of Labor. SENATOR LEMAN said there were a lot of kids working in the Bristol Bay fisheries and in Kodiak, etc. He asked if they are working illegally. MR. MOSTRIANO replied yes. CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked what the penalties are. MR. MOSTRIANO replied that there is no penalty under our law, but it's a federal law and he didn't know what the penalty was. It depends on how many times it happens. The state has a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Labor that if we find a child working under hazardous situations, they are required to report that and they would go out and investigate. Sometimes the fines are $3,000 or more. SENATOR AUSTERMAN said that fiscal note analysis says the bill removes the preapproval requirements and yet they just heard testimony to the effect that it will make the preapproval requirements work better. He asked what changed. MS. GAMEZ replied that it changes the preapproval requirements. In current law you would have to get preapproval before the child can go to work. Under the new law, an employer can approve an entire job class as opposed to the individual minor. She agreed that the language is confusing. SENATOR AUSTERMAN asked if the bill removes the preapproval requirement. MS. GAMEZ replied that it removes the preapproval requirement per individual and replaces it with classes of employment instead. For instance, if a farmer in the Mat-Su Valley wanted to hire some kids who are 16 to harvest produce, under the new law, they could fax a letter to Mr. Mastriano saying they were going to hire 15 kids and this was the type of work they would do prior to the harvest time. MR. MASTRIANO explained they would tell the employer that this job is safe for a 14 or 15 year old or whatever and keep the employer out of harms way of having a hazardous order situation where they could get penalized by the U.S. Department of Labor. His department would review the job and the equipment the prospective employees would be asked to use and any chemicals and tell the employer what age would be allowed to work that job. CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if an employer has to state the number of individuals he is going to hire under that approval. MR. MASTRIANO replied that that was not quantified. The thought was if you said we had a job to do burgers at McDonalds, we wouldn't care how many people. We would say that job could be done by a 14, 15, 16 or 17 year old. When we got the work permit, then we would know who would in fact - and you would have up to seven days according to the new law to submit the work permit. CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if these reviews had to be done annually. MR. MASTRIANO replied that they wouldn't do that unless the job conditions change and then they would rely on the employer to tell them that. The work permits themselves are good for a year. If a child went to work at McDonalds at the age of 14, they could work until their 17th birthday and not have to have their work permit changed, because none of the job duties have changed. "This is a little more restrictive." CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked why an annual renewal was recommended. MR. MASTRIANO said that was worked out in committee. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said that whole section was put in in committee. CHAIRMAN STEVENS said he thought it was good policy to give them scope with the job permit, but it seems onerous for the employer to have an inspection every year. MR. MASTRIANO responded that it would be up to the individual minor to get a new work permit yearly - not the employer. SENATOR LEMAN asked about a 16 year old kid who wants to mow your lawn. MR. MASTRIANO replied: At your house it's fine, but if they come to your business to mow your lawn, the Department would probably consider them an independent contractor, which means that they're exempt from the law. However, if you hire a 13 year old that cuts his Dad's lawn every day or every other day and you hire him to cut your lawn as part of your business, he has to be at least 16 years of age to do that. SENATOR LEMAN commented that maybe this bill doesn't go quite far enough and they've exposed some things that may need further revision. "One thing I firmly believe is that we need to keep younger people busy and in the summer especially. The phrase, 'Idleness is the devil's workshop…' MR. MASTRIANO said one of the things they have always tried to do is work with the employers and the kids. TAPE 02-20, SIDE B    MR. MASTRIANO continued saying that in today's economy there are a lot of kids who really need to work. It's our job to get them out into the workforce. It's also our job to protect them and that's the issue that I have to enforce on my folks…We don't want to put a child in a case where they're going to be injured or possibly killed. We have had two fatalities this year - 15 year olds working for their parents and that was one of the concerns that I expressed to Representative Rokeberg - is that parents don't always know what the hazardous [indisc.] are. So we would like to at least review some of the jobs that their kids are going to be working at, not necessarily for their parents, but in other industries. I agree that anything we can do to get kids out off the streets and productive workers, I'm in favor of that. SENATOR LEMAN said he was glad to hear that and moved to pass CSHB 128(L&C)(efd add) out of committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note. There were no objections and it was so ordered.