School Food Modernization Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3444 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make loan guarantees and grants to finance certain improvements to school lunch facilities, to train school food service personnel, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 24, 2019 Mr. DESAULNIER (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, and Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Appropria- tions, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make loan guarantees and grants to finance certain improve- ments to school lunch facilities, to train school food service personnel, 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 ‘‘School Food Mod- 4 ernization Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3444 IH SEC. 2. LOAN GUARANTEES AND GRANTS TO FINANCE CER- 1 TAIN IMPROVEMENTS TO SCHOOL LUNCH FA- 2 CILITIES. 3 The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 4 is amended by inserting after section 26 (42 U.S.C. 5 1769g) the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 27. LOAN GUARANTEES AND GRANTS TO FINANCE 7 CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS TO SCHOOL 8 LUNCH FACILITIES. 9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 ‘‘(1) DURABLE EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘dura- 11 ble equipment’ means durable food preparation, han- 12 dling, cooking, serving, and storage equipment great- 13 er than $500 in value. 14 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 15 tity’ means— 16 ‘‘(A) a local educational agency or a school 17 food authority administering or operating a 18 school meal program; 19 ‘‘(B) a tribal organization; or 20 ‘‘(C) a consortium that includes a local 21 educational agency or school food authority de- 22 scribed in subparagraph (A), a tribal organiza- 23 tion, or both. 24 ‘‘(3) INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term ‘infrastruc- 25 ture’ means a food storage facility, kitchen, food 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3444 IH service facility, cafeteria, dining room, or food prepa- 1 ration facility. 2 ‘‘(4) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 3 ‘local educational agency’ has the meaning given the 4 term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec- 5 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 6 ‘‘(5) SCHOOL FOOD AUTHORITY.—The term 7 ‘school food authority’ has the meaning given the 8 term in section 210.2 of title 7, Code of Federal 9 Regulations (or any successor regulation). 10 ‘‘(6) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘tribal 11 organization’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 12 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 13 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 14 ‘‘(b) LOAN GUARANTEES FOR ASSISTANCE TO 15 SCHOOLS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND 16 DURABLE EQUIPMENT NECESSARY TO PROVIDE 17 HEALTHY MEALS THROUGH SCHOOL MEAL PRO- 18 GRAMS.— 19 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO GUARANTEE LOANS.—The 20 Secretary shall issue a loan guarantee to an eligible 21 lender for purposes of financing the construction, re- 22 modeling, or expansion of infrastructure or the pur- 23 chase of durable equipment that the Secretary deter- 24 mines will assist the eligible entity in providing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3444 IH healthy meals through a school meal program au- 1 thorized under this Act. 2 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCES.—In issuing a loan guar- 3 antee under this subsection, the Secretary shall give 4 a preference to an eligible entity that, as compared 5 with other eligible entities seeking a loan guarantee 6 under this subsection, the Secretary determines 7 demonstrates substantial or disproportionate— 8 ‘‘(A) need for infrastructure improvement; 9 or 10 ‘‘(B) durable equipment need or impair- 11 ment. 12 ‘‘(3) OVERSIGHT.—The Secretary, acting 13 through the Under Secretary for Rural Develop- 14 ment, shall establish procedures to oversee any 15 project or purchase for which a loan guarantee is 16 issued under this subsection. 17 ‘‘(4) GUARANTEE AMOUNT.—A loan guarantee 18 issued under this subsection may not guarantee 19 more than 80 percent of the principal amount of the 20 loan. 21 ‘‘(5) FEES AND COSTS.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 23 establish fees for loan guarantees under this 24 subsection that are, to the maximum extent 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3444 IH practicable, equal to all costs of the loan guar- 1 antees as determined under the Federal Credit 2 Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.), as 3 determined by the Secretary. 4 ‘‘(B) FEE SHORTFALL.—To the extent 5 that the Secretary determines that fees de- 6 scribed in subparagraph (A) are not sufficient 7 to pay for all of the costs for the loan guaran- 8 tees pursuant to the Federal Credit Reform Act 9 of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.), the Secretary 10 may use funds described in paragraph (6) to 11 pay for the costs of loan guarantees not paid 12 for by the fees. 13 ‘‘(6) FUNDING.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To provide loan guar- 15 antees under this subsection, the Secretary 16 shall reserve $300,000,000 of the loan guar- 17 antee authority remaining and unobligated as of 18 the date of enactment of the School Food Mod- 19 ernization Act under the program of community 20 facility guaranteed loans under section 306(a) 21 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Develop- 22 ment Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)). 23 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec- 24 retary may use not more than 5 percent of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3444 IH amount made available to carry out this sub- 1 section for each fiscal year to provide technical 2 assistance to applicants and prospective appli- 3 cants in preparing applications and creating fi- 4 nancing packages that leverage a mix of public 5 and private funding sources. 6 ‘‘(c) EQUIPMENT GRANTS.— 7 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—Begin- 8 ning in fiscal year 2020 and subject to the avail- 9 ability of appropriations, provide grants to State 10 agencies for competitive subgrants to local edu- 11 cational agencies and schools (tribes) to purchase 12 the equipment needed to serve healthy meals, im- 13 prove food safety, and to help support the establish- 14 ment, maintenance and expansion of the school. 15 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCES.—In issuing a grant under 16 this subsection, the State agency shall give a pref- 17 erence to an eligible entity that, as compared with 18 other eligible entities seeking a loan guarantee under 19 this subsection, the State agency determines dem- 20 onstrates substantial or disproportionate— 21 ‘‘(A) need for infrastructure improvement; 22 or 23 ‘‘(B) durable equipment need or impair- 24 ment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3444 IH ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized 2 to be appropriated $35,000,000 as may be nec- 3 essary to carry out this subsection for each of 4 fiscal years 2020 through 2025. 5 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec- 6 retary may use not more than 5 percent of the 7 amount made available to carry out this sub- 8 section for each fiscal year to provide technical 9 assistance to applicants and prospective appli- 10 cants in preparing applications and creating fi- 11 nancing packages that leverage a mix of public 12 and private funding sources.’’. 13 SEC. 3. TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR 14 SCHOOL FOOD SERVICE PERSONNEL. 15 The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 16 is amended by inserting after section 21 (42 U.S.C. 17 1769b–1) the following: 18 ‘‘SEC. 21A. TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR 19 SCHOOL FOOD SERVICE PERSONNEL. 20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 21 grant program under which the Secretary shall award 22 grants, on a competitive basis, to provide support to eligi- 23 ble third-party training institutions described in sub- 24 section (b) to develop and administer training and tech- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3444 IH nical assistance for school food service personnel to meet 1 or exceed nutrition standards under section 4(b)(3) and 2 improve efficacy and efficiency of the school lunch pro- 3 gram under this Act and the school breakfast program es- 4 tablished by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 5 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 6 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE THIRD-PARTY INSTITUTIONS DE- 7 FINED.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘eligible 8 third-party institution’ means— 9 ‘‘(1) a nonprofit organization with dem- 10 onstrated experience in food or nutrition services 11 training and technical assistance; 12 ‘‘(2) an institution of higher education as de- 13 fined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 14 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002); 15 ‘‘(3) an area career and technical education 16 school as defined in section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins 17 Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 18 U.S.C. 2302); or 19 ‘‘(4) a consortium of entities described in para- 20 graphs (1), (2), and (3). 21 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR ELIGIBLE THIRD-PARTY INSTI- 22 TUTIONS.—The Secretary shall establish specific criteria 23 that eligible third-party training institutions shall meet to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3444 IH qualify to receive grants under this section, which shall 1 include— 2 ‘‘(1) a demonstrated capacity to administer ef- 3 fective training and technical assistance program- 4 ming to school food service personnel; 5 ‘‘(2) prior, successful experience in providing or 6 engaging in training and technical assistance pro- 7 gramming or applied research activities involving eli- 8 gible entities, school food service administrators, or 9 directors; 10 ‘‘(3) prior, successful experience in developing 11 relevant educational training tools or course mate- 12 rials or curricula on topics addressing child and 13 school nutrition or the updated nutrition standards 14 under section 4(b)(3); and 15 ‘‘(4) the ability to deliver effective and cost-effi- 16 cient training and technical assistance programming 17 to school food service personnel— 18 ‘‘(A) at training sites that are located 19 within a proximate geographic distance to 20 schools, central kitchens, or other worksites; or 21 ‘‘(B) through an online training and assist- 22 ance program on topics that do not require in- 23 person attendance. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3444 IH ‘‘(d) PROGRAM ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 1 assist the institutions receiving grants under this section 2 in publicizing and disseminating training and other project 3 materials and online tools to the maximum extent prac- 4 ticable. 5 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL SHARE.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of costs 7 for training and technical assistance funded through 8 a grant awarded under this section shall not exceed 9 80 percent of the total cost of the training and tech- 10 nical assistance. 11 ‘‘(2) MATCHING.—As a condition of receiving a 12 grant under this section, the eligible third-party 13 training institution shall provide matching support 14 in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. 15 ‘‘(f) OVERSIGHT.—The Secretary shall establish pro- 16 cedures to enable the Secretary— 17 ‘‘(1) to oversee the administration and oper- 18 ation of training and technical assistance funded 19 through grants awarded under this section; and 20 ‘‘(2) to ensure that the training and assistance 21 is operated consistent with the goals and require- 22 ments of this Act. 23 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3444 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 1 appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out this section 2 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025. 3 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 4 may use not more than 5 percent of the amount 5 made available to carry out this section for each fis- 6 cal year to provide technical assistance to applicants 7 and prospective applicants in preparing applications 8 and creating financing packages that leverage a mix 9 of public and private funding sources.’’. 10 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 11 Not later than 1 year after funds are made available 12 to carry out sections 21A and 27 of the Richard B. Russell 13 National School Lunch Act (as added by this Act), and 14 annually thereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture shall sub- 15 mit to Congress a report on the progress of the Secretary 16 in implementing such sections. 17 SEC. 5. STUDY AND REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE USE OF 18 STATE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE FUNDS. 19 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall con- 20 duct a study on— 21 (1) the use of State administrative expense 22 funds by State agencies; 23 (2) innovative, effective, replicable, model poli- 24 cies, practices, and training methods that may be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3444.IH H3444 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3444 IH implemented using State administrative expense 1 funds; 2 (3) factors that interfere with the ability of 3 State agencies to use State administrative expense 4 funds effectively; and 5 (4) how State administrative expense funds 6 may be used to encourage the implementation of ef- 7 fective and consistent school nutrition workforce 8 training, with particular emphasis on training and 9 technical assistan [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]