Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown, said HB 500 was about helping small businesses navigating confusion surrounding labor law. (LRC Public Information)

FRANKFORT — Some Kentucky teenagers could work longer and later hours —? something critics say threatens youngsters’ safety and success in life — under a bill approved by a House committee Thursday with Republican support.

House Bill 255, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown, would repeal Kentucky’s existing child labor laws and align them with federal laws, which are less restrictive for minors aged 16 and 17.?

Kentucky law currently limits the number of hours that 16- and 17-year-olds can work on a school day to six. The limit increases to eight hours on a non-school day and up to 30 hours total during a school week, unless they receive parental permission to work more and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average. Federal law doesn’t have any daily or weekly hourly work limits for ages 16 and 17.?

Kentucky law also prohibits minors aged 16 and 17 from working later than 11 p.m.; federal law places no limits.?

Pratt, who owns a lawn and landscaping business, told the House Economic Development and Workforce Investment Committee that his bill would help teenagers “gain valuable experience in the workplace.”?

“I think this is good to get people out into the workplace, get them some work experience, and hopefully they’ll get off the couch, quit playing Nintendo games and actually make money,” Pratt said.?

The bill passed along party lines and heads to the full House of Representatives for its consideration.?

Opponents of the bill said the legislation would threaten the safety of children and their success in high school by potentially allowing teenagers to work unlimited hours while school is in session.?

Child labor laws protect children at risk of being exploited, not those who “have good family support,” said Rep. Nima Kulkarni. “These are for the kids that are already at risk, they’re already going to be exploited, they’re vulnerable, and we need to be protecting them.”

“Kids could work very late at night and even work third shift or overnight,” said Dustin Pugel, a policy director with the progressive think tank Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.?

“There are 19,000 Kentucky kids ages 16 to 19 who are not in school, and we are concerned that this bill could exacerbate that problem threatening the progress Kentucky has made in graduation rates in recent decades,” he said.?

Pugel, joined by a lobbyist with the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, also said the bill would loosen the hour limits for minors aged 14 and 15 years old and could allow kids to work in hazardous jobs disallowed by current state law.?

Democrats on the committee echoed those concerns. Rep. Nima Kulkarni, D-Louisville, said state child labor laws protect children at risk of being exploited, not children who “have good family support.”?

“These are for the kids that are already at risk, they’re already going to be exploited, they’re vulnerable, and we need to be protecting them,” Kulkarni said.?

After the bill was passed, Pratt asserted that Kentucky’s high school graduation rates aligned closely with other states that have child labor laws consistent with? federal minimum requirements.?

“I think after you do a hard day’s work, you will think, ‘Maybe I need to stay in school. Maybe I actually need to graduate and have a successful career,’” Pratt said.?

In a Thursday press conference, Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also pushed back against the bill, saying that such protections “exist for a reason.”?

“We’re not the stereotype that some people have tried to make of us in Kentucky in the past,” Beshear said. “We need to be really thoughtful about what type of message it sends when we file certain bills, much less move them through the legislative process.”?

At least 10 states in recent years have proposed loosening child labor laws, with some bills being withdrawn or vetoed.