RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina businesses could pay more if they violate state child labor and workplace safety laws in a bill now heading to Gov. Beverly Perdue’s desk.

The House agreed overwhelmingly Wednesday to Senate changes in a bill that would double the maximum monetary penalties when rules are broken in several situations involving workers under 18.

Some of the employment law penalties were among the lowest in the nation. Now their maximum punishment would go from $250 to $500 for first time-violators and to $1,000 for repeats offenders.

Businesses that break safety laws that cause a death of a young person would increase from $10,000 to $20,000 for first-time violators and reach $40,000 for repeat violators.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – Some legislators want the state Labor Department to report annually about what its efforts to enforce child labor laws.

The House voted 106-0 on Thursday to direct the agency to report the number of complaints alleging child labor violations, the length of the investigations, and the number of investigators assigned to the probe. The Labor Department also would need to report the number and amount of fines and how much was collected.

On Wednesday, the House voted unanimously to increase some of the country’s lowest penalties for businesses that violate child labor laws. The maximum would double from $250 to $500 for first-time violators, and to $1,000 for subsequent violations.

Both measures now move to the Senate.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says her future son-in-law is not a high school dropout as the press is reporting.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate told The Associated Press on Wednesday that 18-year-old Levi Johnston is enrolled in high school through a correspondence program.

Palin said some media outlets also are erroneously reporting that her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is a high school dropout.

The governor said her daughter is enrolled in regular high school and also has taken correspondence courses.

Bristol Palin and Johnston are the parents of Sarah Palin’s first grandchild, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, who was born Saturday.

Johnston has said he and Bristol plan to marry.