Equitable Nutrition Assistance for the Territories Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 677 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide for the participation of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the North- ern Mariana Islands in the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 6, 2019 Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. GILLI- BRAND, Ms. WARREN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide for the participation of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the supplemental nutrition assistance program, 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 ‘‘Equitable Nutrition 4 Assistance for the Territories Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 677 IS SEC. 2. PARTICIPATION OF PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN 1 SAMOA, AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA IS- 2 LANDS IN SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS- 3 SISTANCE PROGRAM. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 5 (1) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Food and 6 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is amend- 7 ed— 8 (A) in subsection (r), by inserting ‘‘the 9 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 10 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern 11 Mariana Islands,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’; and 12 (B) in subsection (u)(3), by inserting ‘‘the 13 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 14 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern 15 Mariana Islands,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 16 (2) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the 17 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is 18 amended— 19 (A) in subsection (b), in the first sentence, 20 by inserting ‘‘the Commonwealth of Puerto 21 Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of 22 the Northern Mariana Islands,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’; 23 (B) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘and 24 Guam,’’ and inserting ‘‘Guam, the Common- 25 wealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 677 IS the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 1 lands,’’; and 2 (C) in subsection (e)— 3 (i) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting 4 ‘‘the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Amer- 5 ican Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 6 Northern Mariana Islands,’’ after ‘‘Ha- 7 waii,’’ each place it appears; and 8 (ii) in paragraph (6)(B), in the matter 9 preceding clause (i), by inserting ‘‘the 10 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 11 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North- 12 ern Mariana Islands,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 13 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made 15 by this subsection shall be effective with respect 16 to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 17 Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern 18 Mariana Islands, as applicable, on the date de- 19 scribed in subparagraph (B) if the Secretary of 20 Agriculture submits to Congress a certification 21 under subsection (f)(3) of section 19 of the 22 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 23 2028) (as added by subsection (b)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 677 IS (B) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date referred 1 to in subparagraph (A) is, with respect to the 2 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 3 Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern 4 Mariana Islands, the date established by the 5 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 6 Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern 7 Mariana Islands, respectively, in the applicable 8 plan of operation submitted to the Secretary of 9 Agriculture under subsection (f)(1)(A) of sec- 10 tion 19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 11 (7 U.S.C. 2028) (as added by subsection (b)). 12 (b) TRANSITION OF PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN 13 SAMOA, AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS TO SUP- 14 PLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Section 15 19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028) 16 is amended by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(f) TRANSITION OF PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN 18 SAMOA, AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS TO SUP- 19 PLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.— 20 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION OF PLAN BY PUERTO RICO, 21 AMERICAN SAMOA, AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA 22 ISLANDS.— 23 ‘‘(A) SUBMISSION AND REVIEW OF PLAN 24 OF OPERATION.—If a State agency is des- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 677 IS ignated by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 1 American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the 2 Northern Mariana Islands (referred to in this 3 subsection as a ‘governmental entity’) and sub- 4 mits to the Secretary a request to participate in 5 the supplemental nutrition assistance program 6 and a plan of operation under section 11 (in- 7 cluding a date on which the governmental entity 8 will begin to participate in the supplemental nu- 9 trition assistance program), the Secretary shall 10 determine whether that governmental entity 11 and State agency satisfy the requirements that 12 would apply under this Act for approval of that 13 plan if the governmental entity were one of the 14 several States. 15 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION BY SECRETARY.— 16 ‘‘(i) APPROVAL.—The Secretary shall 17 approve a plan of operation under subpara- 18 graph (A) if the governmental entity and 19 State agency satisfy the requirements de- 20 scribed in that subparagraph. 21 ‘‘(ii) DISAPPROVAL.—If the Secretary 22 does not approve a plan of operation under 23 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall pro- 24 vide to the governmental entity a state- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 677 IS ment that describes each requirement that 1 is not satisfied by the plan. 2 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL OF RETAIL FOOD STORES.—If 3 the Secretary approves a plan of operation under 4 paragraph (1)(B)(i), the Secretary shall accept from 5 retail food stores located in the applicable govern- 6 mental entity applications under section 9 for ap- 7 proval to participate in the supplemental nutrition 8 assistance program. 9 ‘‘(3) SUBMISSION OF CERTIFICATION TO CON- 10 GRESS.—The Secretary shall submit to Congress a 11 certification that a governmental entity qualifies to 12 participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance 13 program as if the governmental entity were a State 14 if the Secretary— 15 ‘‘(A) approves the plan of operation under 16 paragraph (1)(B)(i); and 17 ‘‘(B) approves the applications under para- 18 graph (2) of a number of retail food stores lo- 19 cated in the governmental entity requesting to 20 participate in the supplemental nutrition assist- 21 ance program that would be sufficient to satisfy 22 the requirements of this Act if the govern- 23 mental entity were one of the several States. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 677 IS ‘‘(4) CASH BENEFITS PROVIDED IN PUERTO 1 RICO.—As part of a plan of operation submitted 2 under paragraph (1)(A), the Commonwealth of 3 Puerto Rico may submit to the Secretary a request 4 to provide benefits under the supplemental nutrition 5 assistance program in the form of cash. 6 ‘‘(5) FAMILY MARKET PROGRAM IN PUERTO 7 RICO.—As part of a plan of operation submitted 8 under paragraph (1)(A), notwithstanding subsection 9 (g), the Secretary shall allow the Commonwealth of 10 Puerto Rico to continue to carry out, under the sup- 11 plemental nutrition assistance program, the Family 12 Market Program established under this section. 13 ‘‘(g) TERMINATION OF EFFECTIVENESS.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (a) through (e) 15 shall cease to be effective with respect to the Com- 16 monwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, or the 17 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as 18 applicable, on the date described in paragraph (2) if 19 the Secretary submits to Congress a certification 20 under subsection (f)(3). 21 ‘‘(2) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date referred to 22 in paragraph (1) is, with respect to the Common- 23 wealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, or the 24 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 677 IS the date established by the Commonwealth of Puerto 1 Rico, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the 2 Northern Mariana Islands, respectively, in the appli- 3 cable plan of operation submitted to the Secretary 4 under subsection (f)(1)(A).’’. 5 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agri- 7 culture to carry out this section and the amendments 8 made by this section such sums as are necessary for each 9 fiscal year, to remain available until expended. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S677.IS S677 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS