▪️All this bill does is eliminate the need for a work permit for 14-15 year olds. It changes nothing about what ages minors can work, the jobs they are prohibited from having (which are numerous), or the hour and curfew restrictions.
https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FHB1410.pdf
▪️The rationale was it’s unnecessary govt overreach to require 14-15 year olds get explicit permission from the government to work. It was an inconvenience to go through the steps to get a permit, and this bill makes it easier for those minors to get hired without jumping through an extra hoop.
▪️Those opposed to the bill think it will make it easier for some companies to exploit young workers, particularly migrant children. But companies who go down that road are already violating various labor laws. The huge list of restrictions and jobs 14-15 yr olds can’t legally do still remain:
https://www.labor.arkansas.gov/labor/labor-standards/child-labor/
▪️It’s debatable whether the 14-15 yr old permit is necessary, but it’s ridiculous to imply Arkansas is “bringing back child labor” and completely dishonest to use pictures of children far younger than this bill affects.
It’s bizarre to see them seesaw back and forth that Trump is totally clueless and aloof, just golfing all day, then all of a sudden he’s a dangerous king/dictator who’s diligently plotting to seize absolute power.
▪️This one is frustrating because, while it’s nice to see the vigor and speed that DOGE is acting with, they’re also sloppy with some of their findings. This is not some bombshell, millions of dead people’s SS numbers aren’t being paid out to fraudsters.
▪️This problem has been known for some time, you can read an inspector general’s report from 2015 about millions of names on the SS “numident” not being correctly annotated for deaths, even though they were older than 112 (the oldest known American at the time).
https://oig-files.ssa.gov/audits/full/A-06-14-34030_0.pdf
▪️There are innocent explanations for some of these. Expatriates that died outside the country, for example. Or immigrants given temporary work permit who returned to their country, people issued new numbers for various reasons, etc. However, most are simply due to the govt not diligently keeping track of deaths.
▪️It’s embarrassing that the govt has millions of numbers on the numident that are ...
