SMART Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1577 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to ensure equity for America’s children by providing access to summer meals. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 12, 2021 Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to ensure equity for America’s children by providing access to summer meals. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Summer Meals Alter- 4 native Relief and Transportation Act of 2021’’ or the 5 ‘‘SMART Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1577.IS S1577 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1577 IS SEC. 2. ACCESS TO NUTRITIOUS SUMMER MEALS FOR CHIL- 1 DREN. 2 Section 13(a) of the Richard B. Russell National 3 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761(a)) is amended by add- 4 ing at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(13) ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM FOR MEAL DE- 6 LIVERY.— 7 ‘‘(A) ADDITIONAL SERVICE OPTIONS.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 March, 1, 2022, the Secretary shall estab- 10 lish under the program additional service 11 options for eligible States, in accordance 12 with subparagraph (B), that— 13 ‘‘(I) allow for the delivery of 14 meals directly to the residence of an 15 eligible child; and 16 ‘‘(II) do not require that an eligi- 17 ble child arrive to, or be served a meal 18 at, a specified location other than the 19 residence of the child. 20 ‘‘(ii) ADMINISTRATION.—In carrying 21 out clause (i), the Secretary shall borrow 22 from previously successful demonstration 23 projects that have delivered nutritious 24 meals, by mail or other mechanism, to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1577.IS S1577 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1577 IS residences of children during the summer 1 period. 2 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE STATES.—The Secretary 3 shall permit the additional service options es- 4 tablished under subparagraph (A)(i) to be car- 5 ried out by a State participating in the program 6 if the State has 1 or more areas, as determined 7 by the Secretary, in which eligible children are 8 unable— 9 ‘‘(i) to access meals under the pro- 10 gram at congregate feeding sites; and 11 ‘‘(ii) to fully utilize electronic benefit 12 transfer funds provided to a household for 13 the purpose of increasing household access 14 to food for children during the summer 15 months, including because of the distance 16 and transportation options available to a 17 retailer authorized to accept and redeem 18 benefits under the supplemental nutrition 19 assistance program established under the 20 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 21 2011 et seq.). 22 ‘‘(C) NUTRITIOUS MEALS.—The Secretary 23 shall ensure that meals delivered through the 24 additional service options established under sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1577.IS S1577 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1577 IS paragraph (A)(i) meet the criteria for nutritious 1 meals under the program, except that the Sec- 2 retary shall not impose restrictions that would 3 otherwise prevent the delivery of nutritious 4 meals to children under those additional service 5 options. 6 ‘‘(D) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND SUP- 7 PORT.— 8 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTI- 9 TY.—In this subparagraph, the term ‘eligi- 10 ble entity’ means a nonprofit organization 11 or institution of higher education— 12 ‘‘(I) that has experience in deliv- 13 ering nutritious summer meals to resi- 14 dential homes using mainstream ship- 15 ping carriers, in coordination with 16 service institutions; and 17 ‘‘(II) that experience of which is 18 demonstrated in a public report of a 19 research institution with experience in 20 domestic feeding programs. 21 ‘‘(ii) GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE 22 AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary shall pro- 23 vide grants to, or enter into cooperative 24 agreements with, eligible entities to provide 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1577.IS S1577 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1577 IS technical assistance, support, and evalua- 1 tion to State agencies and service institu- 2 tions, in not more than 5 States, carrying 3 out the additional service options estab- 4 lished under subparagraph (A)(i). 5 ‘‘(iii) SUBGRANTS.—An eligible entity 6 that receives a grant or enters into a coop- 7 erative agreement under clause (ii) may 8 award a subgrant to another eligible entity 9 in the State to assist in carrying out the 10 grant or cooperative agreement. 11 ‘‘(iv) DURATION.—A grant or cooper- 12 ative agreement under clause (ii) shall be 13 for the period beginning on the date on 14 which the grant is awarded or the coopera- 15 tive agreement is entered into, as applica- 16 ble, and ending on the last day of the third 17 fiscal year that begins after the date of en- 18 actment of the Summer Meals Alternative 19 Relief and Transportation Act of 2021. 20 ‘‘(E) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 21 after the termination of the last grant or coop- 22 erative agreement entered into under subpara- 23 graph (D)(ii), the Secretary shall submit to the 24 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1577.IS S1577 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1577 IS estry of the Senate and the Committee on Agri- 1 culture of the House of Representatives a re- 2 port that— 3 ‘‘(i) describes— 4 ‘‘(I) the use of the alternative de- 5 livery options established under sub- 6 paragraph (A)(i); and 7 ‘‘(II) the impact of those options 8 on participation in the program; 9 ‘‘(ii) describes the impact of the tech- 10 nical assistance, support, and evaluation 11 provided under subparagraph (D) on par- 12 ticipation in the program; and 13 ‘‘(iii) is supported by data from a re- 14 search institution or institution of higher 15 education. 16 ‘‘(F) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 17 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 18 to the Secretary $10,000,000 to carry out this 19 paragraph.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1577.IS S1577 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS