Local School Foods Expansion Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3492 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to make a permanent program for the procurement of unprocessed fruits and vegetables to provide healthier school meals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 25, 2019 Mr. WELCH 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 make a permanent program for the procurement of unprocessed fruits and vegetables to provide healthier 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 ‘‘Local School Foods 4 Expansion Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. HELPING SCHOOLS SERVE HEALTHIER MEALS. 6 Section 6(f) of the Richard B. Russell National 7 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1755(f)) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3492.IH H3492 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3492 IH (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘PILOT 1 PROJECT FOR PROCUREMENT OF UNPROCESSED 2 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES’’ and inserting ‘‘PRO- 3 GRAM FOR PROCUREMENT OF DOMESTICALLY 4 GROWN UNPROCESSED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES’’; 5 (2) by striking ‘‘pilot project’’ each place it ap- 6 pears and inserting ‘‘program’’; 7 (3) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol- 8 lows: 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 10 out a program to facilitate the procurement of do- 11 mestically grown unprocessed fruits and vegetables 12 in not fewer than 15 States receiving funds under 13 this Act.’’; 14 (4) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘domestically 15 grown’’ before ‘‘unprocessed’’; 16 (5) in paragraph (5)— 17 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND RE- 18 PORTING REQUIREMENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘, RE- 19 PORTING REQUIREMENTS, AND EVALUATIONS’’; 20 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 21 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 22 the end; 23 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 24 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3492.IH H3492 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3492 IH (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(iii) the challenges and opportunities 3 presented by the program, as assessed by 4 the State.’’; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(C) PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 8 years after the date of the enactment of 9 this subparagraph, the Secretary shall 10 evaluate the impact of the program, includ- 11 ing information on— 12 ‘‘(I) the quantity and cost of 13 each type of unprocessed fruit and 14 vegetable procured by each State 15 under the program; 16 ‘‘(II) the benefit of such procure- 17 ment in conducting school food service 18 in each State, including meeting 19 school meal requirements; and 20 ‘‘(III) the economic impact the 21 program has had on agricultural pro- 22 ducers in each State. 23 ‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than 4 24 years after the date of enactment of this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3492.IH H3492 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3492 IH subparagraph, the Secretary shall submit 1 to the Committee on Agriculture of the 2 House Representatives and the Committee 3 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 4 the Senate a report that includes the re- 5 sults and an analysis of the evaluation re- 6 quired under clause (i).’’; and 7 (6) by adding at the end the following new 8 paragraph: 9 ‘‘(6) FUNDING.— 10 ‘‘(A) MANDATORY FUNDING.—There is ap- 11 propriated to carry out this section 12 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 13 through 2024. 14 ‘‘(B) RESERVATION.—Of the funds appro- 15 priated under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal 16 year, $10,000,000 shall be reserved for States 17 selected pursuant to paragraph (1) to carry out 18 State program administration and provide tech- 19 nical assistance and outreach to vendors to be- 20 come certified to participate in the program 21 under this section. 22 ‘‘(C) MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—Of the 23 funds reserved under subparagraph (B), each 24 State selected pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3492.IH H3492 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3492 IH receive not less than $300,000 for each fiscal 1 year during which such State participates in the 2 program under this section.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3492.IH H3492 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS