Local School Foods Expansion Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1633 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a program for the procurement of domestically grown unprocessed fruits and vegetables to provide healthier school meals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 13, 2021 Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a program for the procurement of do- mestically grown unprocessed fruits and vegetables to provide healthier school meals, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Local School Foods 4 Expansion Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1633 IS SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR PROCUREMENT OF DOMESTICALLY 1 GROWN UNPROCESSED FRUITS AND VEGETA- 2 BLES. 3 Section 6(f) of the Richard B. Russell National 4 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1755(f)) is amended— 5 (1) in the subsection heading, by striking 6 ‘‘PILOT PROJECT FOR PROCUREMENT OF’’ and in- 7 serting ‘‘PROGRAM FOR PROCUREMENT OF DOMES- 8 TICALLY GROWN’’; 9 (2) in paragraph (1)— 10 (A) by striking ‘‘conduct a pilot project’’ 11 and inserting ‘‘carry out a program (referred to 12 in this subsection as the ‘program’)’’; 13 (B) by inserting ‘‘domestically grown’’ be- 14 fore ‘‘unprocessed’’; and 15 (C) by striking ‘‘8’’ and inserting ‘‘14’’; 16 (3) by striking ‘‘pilot project’’ each place it ap- 17 pears and inserting ‘‘program’’; 18 (4) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding 19 subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘domestically 20 grown’’ before ‘‘unprocessed’’; 21 (5) in paragraph (4)— 22 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 23 and (C) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respec- 24 tively; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1633 IS (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(B) the demonstrated commitment of the 3 State to support small, local, and socially dis- 4 advantaged farmers; 5 ‘‘(C) the demonstrated commitment of the 6 State to support Tribal agricultural producers 7 and communities utilizing traditional foods; 8 ‘‘(D) whether the State will serve a high 9 proportion of children from socially disadvan- 10 taged backgrounds in carrying out the pro- 11 gram;’’; 12 (6) in paragraph (5)— 13 (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 14 ‘‘RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTING’’ and in- 15 serting ‘‘RECORDKEEPING, REPORTING, AND 16 EVALUATION’’; 17 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 18 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 19 the end; 20 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 21 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1633 IS ‘‘(iii) the challenges and opportunities 1 presented by the program in the State.’’; 2 and 3 (C) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(C) PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 6 years after the date of enactment of this 7 subparagraph, the Secretary shall evaluate 8 the impact of the program, including with 9 respect to— 10 ‘‘(I) the quantity and cost of 11 each type of unprocessed fruit and 12 vegetable procured by each State 13 under the program; 14 ‘‘(II) the benefit of the procured 15 unprocessed fruits and vegetables to 16 school food service in each State, in- 17 cluding the benefit to meeting school 18 meal requirements; 19 ‘‘(III) the economic impact of the 20 program on agricultural producers in 21 the State; 22 ‘‘(IV) the economic, geographic, 23 social, and administrative barriers to 24 participation, including the reimburse- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1633 IS ment process, experienced by agricul- 1 tural producers and school food au- 2 thorities; and 3 ‘‘(V) eligibility requirements for 4 agricultural producers, including any 5 barriers to becoming approved ven- 6 dors. 7 ‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than 4 8 years after the date of enactment of this 9 subparagraph, the Secretary shall submit 10 to the Committee on Agriculture of the 11 House of Representatives and the Com- 12 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For- 13 estry of the Senate a report that describes 14 the results of the evaluation conducted 15 under clause (i) and an analysis of that 16 evaluation.’’; and 17 (7) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(6) FUNDING.— 19 ‘‘(A) MANDATORY FUNDING.—There is ap- 20 propriated to carry out this subsection 21 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 22 through 2026. 23 ‘‘(B) RESERVATION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE 24 COSTS; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1633 IS ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds ap- 1 propriated under subparagraph (A) for 2 each fiscal year, $10,000,000 shall be re- 3 served for States selected under the pro- 4 gram under paragraph (1) to carry out the 5 activities described in clause (ii)(I). 6 ‘‘(ii) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS; TECH- 7 NICAL ASSISTANCE.— 8 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The funds 9 reserved under clause (i) shall be 10 used— 11 ‘‘(aa) for the administrative 12 costs of carrying out the pro- 13 gram, including costs of satis- 14 fying record keeping and report- 15 ing requirements; 16 ‘‘(bb) to coordinate among 17 or share with agencies and de- 18 partments involved in carrying 19 out the program in the State; 20 and 21 ‘‘(cc) to provide technical as- 22 sistance and outreach to— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1633 IS ‘‘(AA) vendors to be- 1 come certified to participate 2 in the program; and 3 ‘‘(BB) school food au- 4 thorities, regional food hubs, 5 State and local agencies, In- 6 dian Tribal organizations, 7 agricultural producers, so- 8 cially disadvantaged farm- 9 ers, and other entities to 10 participate in the program. 11 ‘‘(II) MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—Of 12 the funds reserved under clause (i), 13 each State selected under paragraph 14 (3)(A) shall receive not less than 15 $500,000 for each fiscal year during 16 which the State participates in the 17 program. 18 ‘‘(C) RESERVATION FOR TECHNICAL AS- 19 SISTANCE TO NONPARTICIPATING STATES.—Of 20 the funds appropriated under subparagraph (A) 21 for each fiscal year, $1,000,000 shall be re- 22 served— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1633 IS ‘‘(i) only if there are fewer than 14 1 States participating in the program that 2 fiscal year; and 3 ‘‘(ii) to provide technical assistance 4 with eligibility requirements for States 5 seeking to participate in the program.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1633.IS S1633 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS