No Shame at School Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3366 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 19, 2019 Ms. OMAR (for herself, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. SCHA- KOWSKY, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. KILMER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. POCAN, Ms. WILD, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. COHEN, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. LUJA´N, and Ms. JOHNSON of Texas) 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 prohibit the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals, 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 ‘‘No Shame at School 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3366 IH SEC. 2. MANDATORY CERTIFICATION. 1 Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. Russell National 2 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended 3 by— 4 (1) striking ‘‘Discretionary’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘Mandatory’’; and 6 (2) striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 7 SEC. 3. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 8 Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National 9 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amend- 10 ed— 11 (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 14 (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub- 15 clauses (I) and (II); and 16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu- 18 cational agency shall revise a previously 19 submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi- 20 bility approval of a child for free or re- 21 duced price meals for the period that be- 22 gins on the earlier of the following: 23 ‘‘(I) The first day of the current 24 school year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3366 IH ‘‘(II) The date that is 90 days 1 prior to the date of such eligibility ap- 2 proval. 3 ‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this 4 subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means 5 any documentation provided by a school 6 food authority to a State agency in order 7 to receive reimbursement for the cost of a 8 meal served to a child by such school food 9 authority.’’. 10 SEC. 4. REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID 11 SCHOOL MEAL FEES. 12 Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell National 13 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(10)) is amended to 14 read as follows: 15 ‘‘(10) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH 16 UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 17 ‘‘(A) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIB- 18 ITED.—A local educational agency or school 19 food authority may not, based on the status of 20 a covered child as a covered child— 21 ‘‘(i) physically segregate such covered 22 child; 23 ‘‘(ii) overtly identify such covered 24 child— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3366 IH ‘‘(I) through the use of special 1 tokens or tickets; or 2 ‘‘(II) by an announcement or a 3 published list of names; or 4 ‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize such cov- 5 ered child by any other means. 6 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION BY 7 LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any cov- 8 ered child who is a member of a household that 9 owes a week or more of unpaid school meal 10 fees, a local educational agency shall— 11 ‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify such 12 covered child for free meals under para- 13 graph (4) or (5); or 14 ‘‘(ii) in a case where the local edu- 15 cational agency is not able to directly cer- 16 tify such covered child under paragraph 17 (4) or (5), provide to the household of such 18 covered child— 19 ‘‘(I) a household application and 20 applicable descriptive material; and 21 ‘‘(II) written and oral commu- 22 nications to encourage submission of 23 the application. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3366 IH ‘‘(C) COLLECTION OF UNPAID SCHOOL 1 MEAL FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid 2 school meal fees from a household, a local edu- 3 cational agency or school food authority may 4 not— 5 ‘‘(i) except as described in subpara- 6 graph (D), direct any communication re- 7 garding unpaid school meal fees to a cov- 8 ered child who is a member of such house- 9 hold; 10 ‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportuni- 11 ties from, or otherwise stigmatize, a cov- 12 ered child due to the status of the covered 13 child as a covered child; or 14 ‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as such 15 term is defined in section 803 of the Con- 16 sumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 17 1692a)). 18 ‘‘(D) LETTERS.—A school food authority 19 may permit a requirement that a covered child 20 deliver a letter addressed to a parent or guard- 21 ian of the covered child that contains a commu- 22 nication relating to unpaid school meal fees, 23 subject to the condition that the letter shall not 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3366 IH be distributed to the covered child in a manner 1 that stigmatizes the covered child. 2 ‘‘(E) ELIMINATING STIGMA IN MEAL SERV- 3 ICE.—In providing a meal to a covered child, a 4 local educational agency or school food author- 5 ity may not, based on the status of the covered 6 child as a covered child, dispose of or take away 7 from the covered child any food that has al- 8 ready been served to such covered child. 9 ‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 10 ‘‘(i) COVERED CHILD.—The term 11 ‘covered child’ means a child who— 12 ‘‘(I) is enrolled in a school that 13 participates in the school lunch pro- 14 gram under this Act or the school 15 breakfast program under section 4 of 16 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 17 U.S.C. 1773); and 18 ‘‘(II) is a member of a household 19 that owes unpaid school meal fees. 20 ‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 21 The term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means 22 outstanding fees owed by a household to a 23 local educational agency for lunches under 24 this Act or breakfasts under section 4 of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3366 IH the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 1 U.S.C. 1773).’’. 2 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 3 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agri- 4 culture should ensure that to the maximum extent prac- 5 ticable, a school food authority that participates in the 6 school lunch program under the Richard B. Russell Na- 7 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or the 8 school breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nu- 9 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), shall provide to a 10 child who requests a lunch or breakfast the same reim- 11 bursable lunch or breakfast provided to all students not 12 certified to receive free school lunch or breakfast, regard- 13 less of ability to pay for the lunch or breakfast. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3366.IH H3366 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS