Congress moves to ban children from tobacco farms
H.R. 3335 — Children Don't Belong on Tobacco Farms Act · Filed by Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) · 62 cosponsors · Introduced May 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit employment of anyone under 18 in tobacco-related agriculture—specifically work involving direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves. It adds tobacco work to the list of occupations deemed 'oppressive child labor,' which triggers federal restrictions on such employment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to expand the definition of oppressive child labor under federal law to include tobacco-agriculture work, a straightforward protective measure with no secondary provisions or riders.
What the text implies
- The prohibition applies only to direct contact with tobacco plants or dried leaves—indirect roles (e.g., packing, transport, administrative work) may remain unaffected depending on how 'direct contact' is interpreted by the Department of Labor.
- Enforcement depends on DOL resources and state labor-department cooperation; the bill creates no new enforcement mechanism or funding, so effectiveness may vary by jurisdiction.
- Tobacco-farming families may face economic pressure if child labor has been a cost-control mechanism; the bill does not address transition support or alternative income for affected households.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Children under 18 are protected from hazardous tobacco-agriculture work, which exposes them to nicotine poisoning, pesticide exposure, and other occupational harms documented in public health literature. The restriction removes a source of child labor exploitation without imposing costs on ordinary citizens.
Named in the bill
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Department of Labor, tobacco industry, agricultural employers
Where it stands
62 cosponsors: 62 Democrats.
- May 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Rosa DeLauro, the sponsor, reported $624,463 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Conference of Provincials of North America — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (720 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 14, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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