TALLAHASSEE — A proposal to weaken work restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds is ready to go to the full Senate after a committee made changes Monday night that scaled back the House’s more far-reaching version.

The Senate Rules Committee voted 15-3 to approve the revised bill (HB 49), which addresses issues such as how many hours 16- and 17-year-old youths can work. The House voted 80-35 on Feb. 1 to pass the broader bill.

The House version would eliminate a restriction on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than 30 hours during weeks when school is in session. The Senate version would maintain the 30-hour limit but would allow parents, guardians or school superintendents to waive it.

“I think if we’re looking to empower parents and also get the school more involved, I think it’s a measured approach,” said Senate sponsor Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills.

The House also would have removed a restriction on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than eight hours a day when school is scheduled the next day. The Senate would only lift the restriction on holidays and Sundays.

The Senate changes also would keep work hours for 16- and 17-year-olds from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. when school is scheduled the next day. The House bill moved the allowable start of the workday to 6 a.m.

“This is in no way, shape or form a repeal of current Florida law. It’s merely updating it, I believe, to reflect sort of the world we live in today,” Burgess said. “I don’t believe there’s going to be any increase in child-labor violations due to the measured adjustments to the left and right in this law.”

If the full Senate passes the revised bill, the issue would have to return to the House. If the House doesn’t accept the Senate changes, the two chambers would have to negotiate a final bill.

As the proposal moved through legislative committees, Democrats and some groups argued that easing current restrictions would hinder students’ education. They also argued the intent of the bill was to use minors to address labor shortages, including shortages related to a lack of immigrant workers.

Alexis Tsoukalas, a policy analyst with the Florida Policy Institute, said existing “guardrails,” which include allowing 16- and 17-year old to work more than 30 hours a week during the summer, need to remain in place.

“We know from reputable studies that extending teens’ work hours can make even the safest job hazardous to their education and well-being,” Tsoukalas said.

Rich Templin, a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO, said unions have long been concerned about child labor abuses. But he said the union could support the bill as revised by the Senate.

“When we look at the product as it came over from the House, with truly draconian elimination of labor laws that have been on the books since 1986, this [Senate version of the bill] is an area where we have to break with tradition,” Templin told the committee. “And we support this bill.”