Protecting Children Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 3997 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3997 To protect children from oppressive child labor and unsafe workplaces, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 12, 2025 Mr. Scott of Virginia (for himself, Ms. Omar, Ms. Bonamici, and Mr. McGarvey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To protect children from oppressive child labor and unsafe workplaces, 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 ``Protecting Children Act''. SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. Sec. 3. Effective date. TITLE I--IMPROVING ENFORCEMENT Sec. 101. Adjusting civil monetary penalties. Sec. 102. Enhancing criminal penalties. Sec. 103. Expanding use of hot goods injunctions. Sec. 104. Enabling private enforcement. TITLE II--STRENGTHENING CAPACITY TO PROTECT CHILDREN Sec. 201. Increasing expertise for protecting children from unsafe employment and oppressive child labor. Sec. 202. Supporting implementation and interagency collaboration. TITLE III--UPDATING STANDARDS TO PROTECT CHILDREN Sec. 301. Improving process for updating standards on conditions of oppressive child labor. Sec. 302. Judicial review of rulemaking. TITLE IV--INCREASING RESEARCH AND PUBLIC EDUCATION Sec. 401. Coordinating research on child labor. Sec. 402. Developing a comprehensive statistical program. Sec. 403. Enabling training and public engagement. SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall take effect on the date that is 60