Illegal child labor is surging in WA and across US. Sen. Murray wants to hold businesses...

A record 138 businesses in Washington were fined for violating child labor laws last year, the highest number in recent memory, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat.

Murray introduced legislation Thursday to crack down on the growing problem.

“Companies have gotten away with it,” Murray said in an interview with KUOW. “And the more they get away with it and the more they have cheap labor and nobody's noticing you're doing anything, they just keep doing it.”

The CHILD Labor Act, which stands for Children Harmed in Life-Threatening or Dangerous Labor Act, would increase penalties companies pay for violating child labor laws tenfold. The civil penalty for child labor violations would jump from $11,000 to more than $150,000. The criminal penalty fine would balloon from $10,000 to $750,000.

The measure would also expand liability to contractors and subcontractors and give exploited children the right to sue for damages themselves.

Asked whether Murray would try to attach the legislation to a larger budget bill to circumvent disfunction in Congress, she said everything is on the table.