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Child-labor trafficking bill draws extensive debate; sponsor to pull bill for reworking
Summary
SB 609, designed to create an offense for child labor trafficking with exemptions for parents and routine chores, drew prolonged questioning over scope and the elevation of some conduct to a class Y felony; the sponsor agreed to pull the bill to draft tighter language.
A bill to create a new offense for child labor trafficking prompted sustained questioning about scope, rural impacts and prosecutorial discretion.
Sponsor testimony (the presenting senator noted they were carrying the bill for a colleague) described SB 609 as a statute aimed at serious exploitation — conduct involving threats or causing serious harm, patterns of physical injury, or financial benefit from a minor's labor. The presenter said the bill exempts parents and guardians for common household chores.
Committee members repeatedly raised rural-life examples — hauling hay, irrigating crops or youth working for neighbors — and asked whether such work could be swept into a class Y felony under the bill's current drafting. Prosecutor coordinator Bob McMahon told the committee that the prosecutors' office would exercise discretion but emphasized this bill creates a new offense that did not previously exist in state law.
Multiple senators urged narrowing the language and reconsidering felony classifications where the conduct does not involve serious harm. In response, the sponsor offered to pull the bill and work with senators to tighten language; the committee agreed and the sponsor withdrew the bill for further drafting.
