Anti-Lunch Shaming Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1119 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for meals. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 10, 2019 Mr. UDALL (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CASEY, Mr. GARDNER, Ms. SMITH, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for meals. 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 ‘‘Anti-Lunch Shaming 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1119 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON STIGMATIZATION OF CHILDREN 1 WHO ARE UNABLE TO PAY FOR MEALS. 2 Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell National 3 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(10)) is amended— 4 (1) by striking ‘‘(10) No physical’’ and insert- 5 ing the following: 6 ‘‘(10) DISCRIMINATORY OR STIGMATIZING 7 TREATMENT OF CHILDREN BY SCHOOLS.— 8 ‘‘(A) DISCRIMINATION BASED ON ELIGI- 9 BILITY.—No physical’’; and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(B) STIGMATIZATION BASED ON LACK OF 12 FUNDS OR DEBT.— 13 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF COVERED 14 CHILD.—In this subparagraph, the term 15 ‘covered child’ means a child who— 16 ‘‘(I) is a student at a school that 17 participates in— 18 ‘‘(aa) the school lunch pro- 19 gram established under this Act; 20 or 21 ‘‘(bb) the school breakfast 22 program established by section 4 23 of the Child Nutrition Act of 24 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1119 IS ‘‘(II)(aa) does not have funds to 1 pay for a lunch or breakfast at the 2 school; or 3 ‘‘(bb) has outstanding credit that 4 was extended by a school food author- 5 ity for a lunch or breakfast at the 6 school. 7 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS OF SCHOOL 8 FOOD AUTHORITIES.— 9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A school food 10 authority shall not permit— 11 ‘‘(aa) the public identifica- 12 tion or stigmatization of a cov- 13 ered child, such as by requiring 14 the covered child to wear a wrist- 15 band or display a hand stamp to 16 identify the covered child as a 17 covered child; or 18 ‘‘(bb) any requirement that 19 a covered child, because of the 20 status of the covered child as a 21 covered child— 22 ‘‘(AA) perform chores 23 or any other activity that is 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1119 IS not required of students 1 generally; or 2 ‘‘(BB) dispose of a 3 lunch or breakfast after it 4 has been served to the cov- 5 ered child. 6 ‘‘(II) COMMUNICATIONS.— 7 ‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—Sub- 8 ject to item (bb), a school food 9 authority shall require that any 10 communication relating to an 11 outstanding credit described in 12 clause (i)(II)(bb) of a covered 13 child— 14 ‘‘(AA) shall be directed 15 to a parent or guardian of 16 the covered child; and 17 ‘‘(BB) shall not be di- 18 rected to the covered child. 19 ‘‘(bb) LETTERS.—A school 20 food authority may permit a re- 21 quirement that a covered child 22 deliver a letter addressed to a 23 parent or guardian of the covered 24 child that contains a communica- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1119 IS tion described in item (aa), sub- 1 ject to the condition that the let- 2 ter shall not be distributed to the 3 covered child in a manner that 4 stigmatizes the covered child.’’. 5 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agri- 7 culture should ensure that— 8 (1)(A) to the maximum extent practicable, an 9 application for a free or reduced price lunch under 10 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 11 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is distributed— 12 (i) in an understandable and uniform for- 13 mat; and 14 (ii) by not later than July 1 of each year; 15 and 16 (B) a school food authority offers technical as- 17 sistance to a parent or legal guardian to complete an 18 application described in subparagraph (A); 19 (2) each school food authority coordinates 20 with— 21 (A) the local educational agency liaison 22 designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the 23 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 24 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)) to ensure that home- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1119 IS less children and youths eligible to receive free 1 lunches and breakfasts under section 2 9(b)(12)(A)(iv) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 3 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1758(b)(12)(A)(iv)) receive those free lunches 5 and breakfasts; and 6 (B) the State agency responsible for ad- 7 ministering the State plans under parts B and 8 E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 9 U.S.C. 621 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) to 10 ensure that foster children eligible to receive 11 free lunches and breakfasts under section 12 9(b)(12)(A)(vii) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 13 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 14 1758(b)(12)(A)(vii)) receive those free lunches 15 and breakfasts; and 16 (3) a school food authority that participates in 17 the school lunch program or the school breakfast 18 program under the Richard B. Russell National 19 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or sec- 20 tion 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 21 1773), respectively— 22 (A) shall provide to a child who requests a 23 lunch or breakfast a lunch or breakfast, regard- 24 less of whether the child— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1119 IS (i) has money to pay for the lunch or 1 breakfast; or 2 (ii) owes money for a lunch or break- 3 fast; 4 (B) shall not provide to a child who quali- 5 fies for a free or reduced price lunch or break- 6 fast an alternate meal that is not provided to 7 students generally; and 8 (C) shall explore innovative ways to use 9 technology to improve and coordinate commu- 10 nications with parents and guardians with re- 11 spect to functions such as— 12 (i) prepayment for meals; 13 (ii) checking balances for school 14 meals; 15 (iii) adding funds to accounts for 16 school meals; 17 (iv) addressing outstanding debt for 18 school meals; and 19 (v) sending automatic emails when an 20 account balance is low. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS