Committee rejects amendment to bill on minors’ hours; underlying bill moves forward
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Summary
A dash-1 amendment to House Bill 4013 — which would have barred BOLI from adopting rules on minors' total working hours for agricultural and family-owned businesses — failed on a roll call. The underlying bill, which ties Oregon limits to the Fair Labor Standards Act as of Jan. 1, 2026, passed the committee with a due-pass recommendation.
The Senate Committee on Labor and Business considered House Bill 4013 on Feb. 18, 2026 and rejected a dash-1 amendment before advancing the underlying bill to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation.
Whitney summarized HB 4013 as establishing that Oregon rules on the total hours a minor may work may not be less restrictive than the requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act in effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and permitting the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) to adopt rules that conform to future changes that increase protections for minors.
A dash-1 amendment posted after the public hearing would have prohibited BOLI from adopting, applying or enforcing any rule regarding the total hours a minor can work in agricultural employment or employment in a family-owned or family-operated business, and would have defined "family-owned or family-operated business." Senator Hayden, who moved the amendment, said the measure was intended to preserve existing statutory exemptions for family businesses and not to change current law. "This verifies that it's not going to change it if we adopted the amendment," Hayden said.
Committee discussion included concerns about shifting rulemaking authority from legislative review to agency rulemaking. One committee member said, "I personally have concern that when the legislature gives rulemaking authority ... to agency versus a review by the legislature, that we give up the public's ability to have comment on issues that they would like to engage with," and said that was the basis for voting no on the amendment in some cases.
The amendment failed on a roll-call vote. The committee then voted to move the underlying bill to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation; a roll-call sequence in the transcript shows multiple ayes and no sustained objection. Chair Taylor read a statement into the record to underscore legislative intent, saying the bill "does not grant BOLI the discretion to adopt any rules that it chooses" and that the bill instead requires BOLI's rules on maximum hours to be fully consistent with federal and state law unless a future change makes them more restrictive.
With the committee's due-pass recommendation, Chair Taylor will carry HB 4013 to the Senate floor for further consideration.
