Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1831 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a permanent, nationwide electronic benefits transfer program for children during school closures, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 26, 2021 Mrs. MURRAY 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 permanent, nationwide electronic bene- fits transfer program for children during school closures, 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 ‘‘Stop Child Hunger 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1831 IS SEC. 2. SUMMER ELECTRONIC BENEFITS TRANSFER FOR 1 CHILDREN PROGRAM. 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) SCHOOL CLOSURE ELECTRONIC BENE- 6 FITS TRANSFER FOR CHILDREN PROGRAM.— 7 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 8 ‘‘(i) COVERED PERIOD.—The term 9 ‘covered period’ means a period in which 10 an elementary school or secondary school is 11 closed, operating remotely, or operating in 12 a hybrid manner for 5 or more consecutive 13 weekdays during the calendar year. 14 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLD.—The 15 term ‘eligible household’ means a house- 16 hold that includes 1 or more children who 17 are eligible to receive free or reduced-price 18 lunches under this Act or free or reduced- 19 price breakfasts under the Child Nutrition 20 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.), in- 21 cluding children eligible for such meals 22 pursuant to section 11(a)(1)(F). 23 ‘‘(iii) FREE RATE.—The term ‘free 24 rate’ has the meaning given the term in 25 section 1101(j)(4) of the Families First 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1831 IS Coronavirus Response Act (7 U.S.C. 2011 1 note). 2 ‘‘(iv) SCHOOL CLOSURE EBT CARD.— 3 The term ‘school closure EBT card’ means 4 an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card 5 that is issued to an eligible household 6 under this paragraph and limited to food 7 purchases. 8 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall es- 9 tablish a program under which the Secretary 10 shall provide to eligible households school clo- 11 sure EBT cards for the purpose of providing 12 access to food for children during covered peri- 13 ods— 14 ‘‘(i) to reduce or eliminate the food in- 15 security and hunger of children; and 16 ‘‘(ii) to improve the nutritional status 17 of children. 18 ‘‘(C) USE.—An eligible household may use 19 a school closure EBT card only to purchase 20 food from retail food stores that have been ap- 21 proved for participation in the supplemental nu- 22 trition assistance program established under the 23 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1831 IS 2011 et seq.), in accordance with section 7(b) 1 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 2016(b)). 2 ‘‘(D) AMOUNT.—The amount of a school 3 closure EBT card issued pursuant to this para- 4 graph shall be, with respect to a covered period, 5 not less than the value of meals at the free rate 6 for each day of such covered period. 7 ‘‘(E) FUNDING.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—On October 1, 9 2021, and on each October 1 thereafter, 10 out of any funds in the Treasury not oth- 11 erwise appropriated, the Secretary of the 12 Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary 13 such sums as are necessary to carry out 14 this paragraph (including administrative 15 expenses), to remain available until ex- 16 pended. 17 ‘‘(ii) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE.— 18 The Secretary shall be entitled to receive, 19 shall accept, and shall use to carry out this 20 section the funds transferred under clause 21 (i), without further appropriation. 22 ‘‘(F) REGULATIONS.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1831 IS ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Oc- 1 tober 1, 2021, the Secretary shall issue 2 regulations to carry out this paragraph. 3 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—Regulations 4 issued under this subparagraph shall re- 5 quire that— 6 ‘‘(I) children shall be eligible to 7 participate and shall be enrolled into 8 the program under this paragraph for 9 a covered period without further ap- 10 plication if the children are enrolled to 11 participate in the free or reduced- 12 price lunch program under this Act or 13 the free or reduced-price breakfast 14 program under the Child Nutrition 15 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); 16 ‘‘(II) local educational agencies 17 shall support the administration of 18 the program under this paragraph 19 by— 20 ‘‘(aa) communicating to the 21 State agency when any school is 22 closed, operating remotely, or op- 23 erating in a hybrid manner; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1831 IS ‘‘(bb) providing data on the 1 children eligible to participate in 2 the program under this para- 3 graph; 4 ‘‘(III) State agencies shall pro- 5 vide information on children eligible to 6 participate in the program under this 7 paragraph with the State agency con- 8 ducting eligibility determinations for 9 the supplemental nutrition assistance 10 program established under the Food 11 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 12 2011 et seq.); and 13 ‘‘(IV) State agencies conducting 14 eligibility determinations described in 15 subclause (III) shall— 16 ‘‘(aa) distribute the school 17 closure EBT cards; 18 ‘‘(bb) provide information to 19 households regarding the pro- 20 gram under this paragraph, in- 21 cluding eligibility rules and how 22 children in eligible households 23 that are not automatically en- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1831 IS rolled under subclause (I) may 1 apply for program benefits; and 2 ‘‘(cc) administer the pro- 3 gram under this paragraph in ac- 4 cordance with regulations pro- 5 mulgated by the Secretary. 6 ‘‘(G) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 8 shall carry out a program to make grants 9 to States to support the development of 10 data systems or upgrades to existing data 11 systems that are necessary to implement 12 this paragraph. 13 ‘‘(ii) FUNDING.—In addition to 14 amounts made available under subpara- 15 graph (E), on October 1, 2021, out of any 16 funds in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 17 priated, the Secretary of the Treasury 18 shall transfer to the Secretary to carry out 19 this subparagraph $50,000,000, to remain 20 available until expended.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1831.IS S1831 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS