American Food for American Schools Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1066 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require a school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy American requirement, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 7, 2019 Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require a school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy American requirement, 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 ‘‘American Food for 4 American Schools Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1066.IH H1066 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1066 IH SEC. 2. WAIVER TO PURCHASE FOREIGN COMMODITIES OR 1 PRODUCTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 12(n)(2) of the Richard 3 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1760(n)(2)) is amended— 5 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘subpara- 6 graph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (B) and 7 (C)’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(C) WAIVER.— 10 ‘‘(i) WAIVER REQUEST.—Except as 11 provided in clause (ii), a school food au- 12 thority shall request from the Secretary a 13 waiver of subparagraph (A) to purchase 14 foreign commodities or products. 15 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—A school food au- 16 thority may purchase foreign commodities 17 or products without a waiver under clause 18 (i) if such commodities or products are 19 not— 20 ‘‘(I) produced domestically; or 21 ‘‘(II) available domestically. 22 ‘‘(iii) REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 23 retary may not provide a waiver to pur- 24 chase foreign commodities or products 25 under clause (i) unless— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1066.IH H1066 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1066 IH ‘‘(I) such commodities or prod- 1 ucts— 2 ‘‘(aa) are not produced do- 3 mestically in sufficient amounts 4 or of satisfactory quality; and 5 ‘‘(bb) if purchased domesti- 6 cally, would be significantly high- 7 er in price than such foreign 8 commodities or products; and 9 ‘‘(II) the school enters into an 10 agreement under clause (iv). 11 ‘‘(iv) AGREEMENT.—The Secretary 12 may not provide a waiver under clause (i) 13 unless the school food authority requesting 14 such waiver agrees to— 15 ‘‘(I) not later than 30 days after 16 receiving such a waiver, make the 17 waiver publicly available on the 18 website of the school food authority; 19 and 20 ‘‘(II) not less than once each 21 school year, email a notification of all 22 waivers to parents or guardians of 23 students who will be served the for- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1066.IH H1066 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1066 IH eign commodity or product purchased 1 pursuant to any such waivers.’’. 2 (b) DEFINITION OF FOREIGN COMMODITY.—Section 3 12(n)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 4 Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(n)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 6 ‘‘(A) DOMESTIC COMMODITY OR PROD- 7 UCT.—The term ‘domestic commodity or prod- 8 uct’ means— 9 ‘‘(i) an agricultural commodity that is 10 produced in the United States; and 11 ‘‘(ii) a food product that is processed 12 in the United States substantially using 13 agricultural commodities that are produced 14 in the United States. 15 ‘‘(B) FOREIGN COMMODITY OR PROD- 16 UCT.—The term ‘foreign commodity or product’ 17 means a commodity or product other than a do- 18 mestic commodity or product.’’. 19 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 12(n) of 20 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 21 U.S.C. 1760(n)) is amended— 22 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Paragraph 23 (2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subparagraphs (A) and (C) 24 of paragraph (2)’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1066.IH H1066 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1066 IH (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘Paragraph 1 (2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subparagraphs (A) and (C) 2 of paragraph (2)’’. 3 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 4 or the amendments by this Act shall effect the require- 5 ments under section 4207 of the Agriculture Improvement 6 Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–334). 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1066.IH H1066 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS