Federal contractors must disclose child labor violations or lose government contracts
S. 920 — Preventing Child Labor Exploitation in Federal Contracting Act · Filed by Josh Hawley (R-MO) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Mar 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires federal contractors to disclose whether they or their subcontractors have been found to violate child labor laws in the past three years, and bars the government from awarding contracts to violators unless they implement corrective measures negotiated with the Department of Labor. It creates a disclosure and enforcement mechanism to prevent companies that exploit child labor from receiving federal money.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a disclosure and contract-award restriction tied to child labor violations. It does not create new substantive law but rather enforces existing child labor statutes (Fair Labor Standards Act § 12) through federal procurement leverage.
What the text implies
- The bill's effectiveness depends on accurate disclosure by contractors; entities may underreport violations or exploit definitional gaps (e.g., 'final' determinations may exclude ongoing investigations or settlements without admission of liability).
- The 3-year lookback window is relatively short; violations older than 3 years are not disclosed, potentially allowing repeat offenders to re-enter federal contracting after a brief cooling-off period.
- Corrective measures are negotiated with the Department of Labor, not statutorily defined; the standard for what constitutes adequate remediation is left to executive discretion and may vary across administrations.
- Subcontractor disclosure requirements create cascading compliance burdens; small suppliers may lack resources to audit their own supply chains, potentially excluding them from federal work despite no direct violation.
Who it affects
The bill restricts federal money from flowing to companies with documented child labor violations, strengthening enforcement of existing child labor protections and preventing taxpayer dollars from subsidizing exploitative practices. Citizens benefit from both the direct protection (fewer federal dollars supporting child labor) and the transparency mechanism (public disclosure of violators).
Named in the bill
Department of Labor, Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, Executive agencies, Federal contractors, Subcontractors, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, House Committee on Education and Workforce
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Mar 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 10, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI scored this bill from its title only — the full text has not been read; 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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