Although older teens could work unlimited hours, they wouldn’t be able to get treatment for sexually transmitted infections on their own under two bills the Florida House approved Friday.
House lawmakers voted on party lines both to require parental consent for health care providers to treat minors with STIs and to let 16- and 17-year-olds work full-time hours during the school year without their parents’ permission.
The passage of the bills rolling back child labor laws (HB 1225) and exceptions entitling minors to privacy with doctors (HB 1505) prompted ardent debate from Democrats, who raised concerns about children who may be too afraid to report abuse.
Orlando Democratic Rep. Rita Harris put forward a failed amendment allowing minors 16 and older to get treatment for STIs without parental consent.
“There is definitely space for people who are 16 or 17 to be able to make decisions on their own, as it was stated,” Harris said. “They drive a car. We trust them to get behind a car, which could literally kill people and kill themselves.”
It didn’t come up during Friday’s debate, but the legislation co-sponsored by Lake Mary Republican Rep. Rachel Plakon also would remove a “loophole” in Florida law that allows physicians to prescribe birth control to a minor if their medical opinion is that the patient would suffer health hazards otherwise.
Plakon said she wants parents to have greater involvement over their kids’ health decisions than institutions.
“The overwhelming majority of parents want to do the right thing for their children, and we believe that the passing of this legislation is a restoration of parental rights with health care and will foster better communication between parents and their children,” Plakon said.
Parental consent doesn’t apply to minors whose parents are being investigated for a crime against them. The Senate version, SB 1288, has not been scheduled for a floor vote.
Additionally, the change could come at a time when Florida teens are contracting chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis at the highest rates since 2008, according to 2023 data from the Florida Department of Health. Those infections can be cured with antibiotics, but worsen if left untreated.
Seventeen-year-old Adriana Rodas views the bills in juxtaposition to each other. The South Floridian traveled to Tallahassee in March to testify against HB 1505.
“I think saying that [teens] are only old enough to do one thing, and that one thing also happens to benefit the people who want to make this legislation pass, is hypocritical because it just shows to me that they always say they care about children, but then when it comes to having them work longer hours, which deteriorates mental health and can really slow them down academically, they don’t care,” Rodas said in an interview with Florida Phoenix.
Repealing labor laws
Lawmakers then approved the bill loosening working laws for young Floridians, which Democrats decried as a chance for employers to exploit minors, by a vote of 78-30.
Specifically, the bill would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work shifts longer than eight hours on the day before a school day and more than 30 hours in a week while school is in session. The bill loosens restrictions for 14- and 15-year-old home-school students, online students, and those who’ve graduated.
Employers wouldn’t have to give 30-minute breaks to older teens under the bill.
“In Florida, we’re requiring parental rights for many other things, like field trips, school presentations, and even, previously, this bill that just moved, kids would need parental rights for STI treatment,” said Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon.
Florida now allows waivers signed by parents. guardians, or school superintendents for young people to work beyond restrictions spelled out in state law, but Republicans argued that the ultimate permission is granted by parents, and a waiver should not be required.
Rep. Monique Miller, a Republican representing Palm Bay and the bill’s sponsor, said that, because of “a resurgence in apprenticeships and such, we want to reduce barriers to teenagers learning their trade.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office drafted the legislation, Orlando Weekly reported.
The bill makes Florida’s minor labor laws stricter in one aspect. It was amended to prohibit students from working past 10 p.m. on school nights. Florida law now allows students to work until 11:00 p.m.
The Senate version of the bill, SB 918, has not moved since its first committee stop, when it passed on a 5-4 vote. That bill, and the original version of the House bill, would’ve let minors work overnight on school nights.
During its last committee stop, the bill was amended to speed up a preemption established last year, when lawmakers voted to eliminate local living-wage laws, specifically for government contractors, effective in 2026. The 2025 bill revises that preemption to take effect this year.
–Jackie Llanos, Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
