Federal School Meals Parity Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1352 To provide for parity for Guam and the United States Virgin Islands under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutri- tion Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 2019 Ms. PLASKETT (for herself and Mr. SAN NICOLAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide for parity for Guam and the United States Virgin Islands under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act, 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 ‘‘Federal School Meals 4 Parity Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1352 IH SEC. 2. PARITY FOR THE UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS 1 AND GUAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 12(f) of 3 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 4 U.S.C. 1760(f)), in providing meals and supplements 5 under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 6 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child Nutri- 7 tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), the Secretary shall 8 apply to— 9 (1) Guam the average of the reimbursement 10 rates applied to Alaska and Hawaii during each fis- 11 cal year under such provisions of law, respectively; 12 and 13 (2) the United States Virgin Islands the same 14 reimbursement rates applied to Puerto Rico during 15 each fiscal year under such provisions of law, respec- 16 tively. 17 (b) SEVERABILITY.—Notwithstanding section 12(f) 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 19 U.S.C. 1760(f)), in the case of a fiscal year in which the 20 Secretary applies the national average reimbursement rate 21 for meals and supplements under the Richard B. Russell 22 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and 23 section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 24 1773) to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1352 IH (1) Alaska or Hawaii, the Secretary shall apply 1 to Guam the greatest reimbursement rate applied to 2 any other State or territory— 3 (A) with respect to meals and supplements 4 provided under the school lunch program, under 5 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 6 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and 7 (B) with respect to the meals and supple- 8 ments provided under the school breakfast pro- 9 gram, under section 4 of the Child Nutrition 10 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); or 11 (2) Puerto Rico, the Secretary shall apply to 12 the United States Virgin Islands the greatest reim- 13 bursement rate applied to any other State or terri- 14 tory— 15 (A) with respect to meals and supplements 16 provided under the school lunch program, under 17 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 18 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and 19 (B) with respect to meals and supplements 20 provided under the school breakfast program, 21 under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 22 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 23 (c) RATE ADJUSTMENT.—Notwithstanding section 24 12(f) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1352 IH Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(f)), the Secretary may apply the na- 1 tional average reimbursement rate prescribed under the 2 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 3 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 4 of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) to Guam or the United States 5 Virgin Islands, or both, if— 6 (1) the Secretary— 7 (A) determines such application is appro- 8 priate in a report published pursuant to section 9 3; and 10 (B) the Secretary publishes such a deter- 11 mination in the Federal Register with an oppor- 12 tunity for a public comment period of at least 13 60 days; and 14 (2) on a date that is after the termination of 15 the public comment period required under paragraph 16 (1)(B) and at least 30 days before applying such re- 17 imbursement rate Guam or the United States Virgin 18 Islands, the Secretary provides notice— 19 (A) to the Congressional committees speci- 20 fied in section 3(b)(2)(A); 21 (B) to each of the delegates to the House 22 of Representatives from Guam and the United 23 States Virgin Islands, as applicable; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1352 IH (C) to the Governors of Guam and the 1 United States Virgin Islands, as applicable. 2 SEC. 3. USDA REPORT ON SCHOOL MEALS REIMBURSE- 3 MENT RATES IN U.S. TERRITORIES. 4 (a) USDA REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the 5 date of enactment of this Act, and once every 10 years 6 thereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture shall prepare and 7 publish a report on— 8 (1) the cost differences between— 9 (A) providing meals and supplements 10 under the Richard B. Russell National School 11 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of 12 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 13 1773) in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern 14 Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United 15 States Virgin Islands, respectively; 16 (B) the average cost of providing meals 17 and supplements under such provisions of law 18 in the contiguous 48 States and the District of 19 Columbia; and 20 (C) the cost of providing meals and supple- 21 ments under such provisions of law in Alaska 22 and Hawaii; 23 (2) the relationship between the cost differences 24 under paragraph (1) and the national average pay- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1352 IH ment rates for meals and supplements under the 1 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 2 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child Nu- 3 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); and 4 (3) the number and percentage of students who 5 are eligible for— 6 (A) a free or reduced price lunch under the 7 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 8 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and 9 (B) the breakfast program under section 4 10 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 11 1773). 12 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required 13 under subsection (a) shall be— 14 (1) published on the Internet website of the 15 Federal Register for public comment for no fewer 16 than 60 days; and 17 (2) finalized within 180 days after the end of 18 the public comment period and— 19 (A) submitted to the Committee on Edu- 20 cation and Labor and the Committee on Agri- 21 culture of the House of Representatives, the 22 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For- 23 estry of the Senate, and each of the delegates 24 or resident commissioner to the House of Rep- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1352 IH resentatives from American Samoa, Guam, the 1 Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and 2 the United States Virgin Islands, respectively; 3 and 4 (B) made readily available on a public 5 Government Internet website. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1352.IH H1352 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS