Ohio State Building. (Photo: David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Ohio Republican lawmakers could try to override Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto would allow Ohio teens ages 14 and 15 work until 9 p.m all year round.
DeWine vetoed Ohio Senate Bill 50but the bill passed the Legislature with a veto-proof vote.
Lawmakers would need a three-fifths vote in each chamber to override a veto, which would mean 20 votes in the Senate and 60 votes in the House.
The bill was passed in the Senate by a majority of 24 votes and 62 votes in the House.
The Ohio Senate would have to begin the repeal process since state Sen. Tim Schaffer of Lancaster introduced the bill.
“It’s going to be a conversation,” said Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, – he said when asked whether the Senate would try to override the veto. “ANDIf we do this, it will most likely happen in January.”
The Ohio Senate will be in session on January 28.
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood was pleased that DeWine vetoed the bill.
“I sent (DeWine) a text and said bravo,” she said. “I think it’s a risky precedent. I think it opens the door to child labor in the state of Ohio.”
Antonio said that a child’s most crucial responsibility is to attend school and perform school duties.
“I can think of a million different ways to encourage more people to come to Ohio State and work here,” she said. “I don’t think we have to start with our children.”
Ohio law currently allows 14 and 15-year-olds to work until 9 p.m. during the summer or during school holidays, which means they cannot work after 7 p.m. on school nights.
In his veto, DeWine stated that “this will be itunreasonable” for 14 and 15-year-olds who work behind schedule in the evening at school.
“I believe that current law has served us well and has successfully balanced the importance of 14- and 15-year-old children learning to work with the importance of giving them time to learn,” DeWine wrote in his veto message.
Ohio cannot change the law without the federal government making changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Ohio lawmakers also passed the measure Parallel Resolution of the Senate 3 which calls on Congress to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow a teenager under the age of 16 to work from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the school year if the teen has the consent of a parent or guardian.
The Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance was disappointed when DeWine vetoed the bill.
“Legislative initiatives like Senate Bill 50 recognize the importance of employment in shaping future careers by developing skills that cannot be learned in school, including customer service, problem solving and time management,” John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement to the Capital Journal.
“These foundational skills that young people learn in the workforce, especially in the restaurant and hospitality industry, are invaluable for their future.”
Extending children’s working hours may have negative consequences for their teachers, she said Brianna Booker, Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio.
“If you increase young people’s working hours, they are more likely to drop out of school or their grades will suffer,” he says. he said. “We are putting young people’s futures at risk in the name of short-term economic relief for the state of Ohio.”
Booker said overriding DeWine’s veto would be bad for juvenile people.
“Children should not be the solution to adults’ problems, and I believe that if they make the decision to override the veto, they are essentially making children responsible for adults’ choices,” Booker said.
Ohio businesses can pay people as juvenile as 14 and 15 federal minimum wage of $7.25 That’s less than the state minimum wage of $10.70 an hour, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Follow a Capital Journal reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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