[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3139 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3139

 To ensure that Federal contractors comply with child labor laws, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 26, 2023

Mr. Booker (for himself and Mr. Hawley) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure that Federal contractors comply with child labor laws, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Child Labor Exploitation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROMOTION OF WORKPLACE ACCOUNTABILITY.

    (a) Required Disclosures.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 
Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require any 
entity that enters into a contract with an executive agency to disclose 
to the Secretary of Labor, on an annual basis and to the best of the 
knowledge of the entity, whether, within the preceding 3-year period, 
any administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or 
civil judgment, as defined in regulations issued by the Secretary of 
Labor, has been issued against the entity, or any subcontractor of the 
entity, for violations of section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
1938 (29 U.S.C. 212).
    (b) Consultation.--The Secretary of Labor shall be available, as 
appropriate, for consultation with an entity described in subsection 
(a) to assist the entity in evaluating the information on compliance 
with section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 submitted to 
the entity by a subcontractor pursuant to such subsection.
    (c) Corrective Measures.--On an annual basis, the Secretary of 
Labor--
            (1) shall provide an entity that makes a disclosure 
        pursuant to subsection (a) an opportunity to report any steps 
        taken by the entity, or any subcontractor of the entity, to 
        correct violations of or improve compliance with section 12 of 
        the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, including any agreements 
        entered into with an enforcement agency; and
            (2) may negotiate with such entity corrective measures that 
        the entity or any subcontractor of the entity may take in order 
        to avoid having the entity placed on the list under subsection 
        (d).
    (d) List of Ineligible Entities.--
            (1) In general.--For each calendar year beginning with the 
        first calendar year that begins after the date that is 2 years 
        after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor 
        shall prepare, and submit to all executive agencies, a list of 
        each entity that shall be ineligible for a contract with an 
        executive agency for that year based on--
                    (A) serious, repeated, or pervasive violations of 
                section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 
                committed by the entity or any subcontractor of the 
                entity; or
                    (B) the failure of such entity, or any 
                subcontractor of such entity, to complete any 
                corrective measure negotiated under subsection (c).
            (2) Ineligibility.--The head of an executive agency shall 
        not solicit a contract from any entity on the list under 
        paragraph (1) that is in effect for a year for that year or any 
        of the subsequent 4 years.
    (e) Criminal Penalty for Failure To Report.--
            (1) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for an entity to 
        knowingly fail to make a disclosure required under subsection 
        (a).
            (2) Penalty.--
                    (A) In general.--A violation of paragraph (1) shall 
                be treated as a violation of section 1031(a) of title 
                18, United States Code.
                    (B) Gross loss to government; gross gain to 
                defendant.--For purposes of applying section 1031 of 
                title 18, United States Code, to a violation of 
                paragraph (1) of this subsection, the amount that an 
                executive agency pays an entity that violates such 
                paragraph (1) under a contract described in subsection 
                (a) of this section shall be treated as the gross loss 
                to the Government or the gross gain to the defendant.
    (f) Annual Reports to Congress.--For each calendar year beginning 
with the first calendar year that begins after the date that is 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, each executive agency shall 
submit to Congress, and make publicly available on the website of the 
executive agency, a report that includes--
            (1) the number of entities on the list under subsection (d) 
        for the year of the report;
            (2) the number of entities that agreed to take corrective 
        measures under subsection (c) for such year;
            (3) the amount of the applicable contracts for the entities 
        described in paragraph (1) or (2); and
            (4) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 
        implementation of this Act for such year.
    (g) Definition of Executive Agency.--In this section, the term 
``executive agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 133 of 
title 41, United States Code.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.

    Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study on 
the prevalence and nature of child labor among Federal contractors and 
submit to Congress a report with the findings of the study.
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