College Student Hunger Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2143 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to expand the eligibility of students to participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance pro- gram, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 17, 2019 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. MARKEY, and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri- culture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to expand the eligibility of students to participate in the supple- mental nutrition assistance program, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘College Student Hun- 4 ger Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2143 IS SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 1 SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE 2 PROGRAM. 3 (a) DEFINITION OF HOUSEHOLD.—Section 3(m) of 4 the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(m)) 5 is amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, except 7 with respect to the individuals described in para- 8 graph (5)(F),’’ before ‘‘constitute’’; and 9 (2) in paragraph (5), by adding at the end the 10 following: 11 ‘‘(F) Students that are enrolled in and are 12 residents of an institution of higher education 13 (as defined in section 102 of the Higher Edu- 14 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) and are 15 eligible to participate in the supplemental nutri- 16 tion assistance program under paragraphs (1) 17 through (11) of section 6(e).’’. 18 (b) ELIGIBILITY OF STUDENTS.—Section 6(e) of the 19 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(e)) is 20 amended— 21 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘20’’ and in- 22 serting ‘‘10’’; 23 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 24 end; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2143 IS (3) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at 1 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 2 (4) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(9) is eligible for a Federal Pell Grant under 4 section 401 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 5 (20 U.S.C. 1070a); 6 ‘‘(10) has an expected family contribution equal 7 to zero, as determined by the procedures established 8 in part F of title IV of the Higher Education Act 9 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087kk et seq.); or 10 ‘‘(11) is independent (as the term is defined 11 under subparagraph (B), (C), (D), (G), or (H) of 12 section 480(d)(1) of the Higher Education Act (20 13 U.S.C. 1087vv(d)(1))).’’. 14 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY NOTIFICATION FOR STUDENTS. 15 Not later than 1 year after the effective date under 16 section 7, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with 17 the Secretary of Agriculture, shall— 18 (1) notify each student who completes the Free 19 Application for Federal Student Aid and is eligible 20 for a Federal Pell Grant under section 401 of the 21 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a) or 22 has an expected family contribution equal to zero, as 23 determined by the procedures established in part F 24 of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2143 IS U.S.C. 1087kk et seq.), that the student may be eli- 1 gible for the supplemental nutrition assistance pro- 2 gram established under the Food and Nutrition Act 3 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); and 4 (2) direct each student notified under para- 5 graph (1) to the appropriate State resource to apply 6 for benefits under that program. 7 SEC. 4. COMMUNICATION OF INFORMATION ON STUDENT 8 ELIGIBILITY FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL NU- 9 TRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 (1) COLLEGE STUDENT.—The term ‘‘college 12 student’’ means a student enrolled in an institution 13 of higher education. 14 (2) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspec- 15 tor General’’ means the Inspector General of the De- 16 partment of Agriculture. 17 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 18 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 19 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 20 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 21 (4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 22 the supplemental nutrition assistance program es- 23 tablished under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 24 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2143 IS (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Agriculture. 2 (b) AUDIT.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 4 the effective date under section 7, the Inspector 5 General shall conduct an audit of the operations of 6 the Food and Nutrition Service to examine the pro- 7 cedures and outreach practices used by the Food 8 and Nutrition Service to provide to State agencies 9 information about the eligibility of students at insti- 10 tutions of higher education for participation in the 11 program. 12 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 13 days after completing the audit under paragraph 14 (1), the Inspector General shall submit to Congress 15 a report describing the results of the audit. 16 (c) STRATEGIES REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 17 after the Inspector General submits to Congress a report 18 under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary shall submit to 19 Congress a report that describes the strategy to be used 20 by the Food and Nutrition Service— 21 (1) to increase the awareness of State agencies 22 and institutions of higher education about— 23 (A) college student hunger; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2143 IS (B) the eligibility of college students for 1 the program; and 2 (C) the procedures and resources available 3 to college students who are participating in the 4 program to access benefits under the program; 5 (2) to identify existing or potential barriers and 6 mitigation strategies with respect to those barriers; 7 and 8 (3) to update the strategic communications plan 9 under subsection (d). 10 (d) UPDATED STATE OUTREACH PLAN GUIDANCE.— 11 Not later than 90 days after the Inspector General sub- 12 mits to Congress a report under subsection (b)(2), the 13 Secretary shall publish an updated State Outreach Plan 14 Guidance that— 15 (1) describes existing data on college student 16 hunger; 17 (2) describes the manner in which college stu- 18 dents can access the supplemental nutrition assist- 19 ance program; 20 (3) recommends outreach activities to address 21 college student hunger and encourages States to 22 conduct those and other outreach activities; 23 (4) provides a template for a State to submit 24 information to the Secretary describing the outreach 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2143 IS activities being carried out by the State to address 1 college student hunger; and 2 (5) contains updated guidance based on the re- 3 sults of the audit conducted under subsection (b)(1) 4 and the contents of the report submitted under sub- 5 section (c). 6 SEC. 5. DEMONSTRATION PILOT PROGRAM. 7 The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 8 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 31. COLLEGE STUDENT HUNGER PILOT PROGRAM. 10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 ‘‘(1) COLLEGE STUDENT.—The term ‘college 12 student’ means a student enrolled in an institution 13 of higher education. 14 ‘‘(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 15 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 16 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 18 ‘‘(3) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot pro- 19 gram’ means the pilot program established under 20 subsection (b). 21 ‘‘(b) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary, in collabora- 22 tion with the Secretary of Education, shall establish a pilot 23 program under which the Secretary shall carry out dem- 24 onstration projects in accordance with subsection (c)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2143 IS ‘‘(1) to decrease student hunger at institutions 1 of higher education; and 2 ‘‘(2) to reduce barriers to college students fully 3 utilizing supplemental nutrition assistance program 4 benefits at institutions of higher education. 5 ‘‘(c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—To carry out the 6 pilot program, the Secretary shall carry out demonstration 7 projects that test the following new supplemental nutrition 8 assistance program delivery methods: 9 ‘‘(1) Allowing a college student receiving sup- 10 plemental nutrition assistance program benefits to 11 use those benefits or the cash value of those bene- 12 fits— 13 ‘‘(A) to purchase prepared foods from a 14 campus dining hall, on-campus store, or other 15 on-campus merchant or provider that typically 16 sells prepared meals and is affiliated with the 17 institution of higher education at which the stu- 18 dent is enrolled; and 19 ‘‘(B) to pay the institution of higher edu- 20 cation the cost of an on-campus college meal 21 plan, in whole or in part. 22 ‘‘(2) Allowing a college student to use an EBT 23 card or a campus-specific card at any of the loca- 24 tions described in paragraph (1)(A). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2143 IS ‘‘(d) PROJECT LIMIT.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 2 out not more than 10 demonstration projects under 3 the pilot program simultaneously. 4 ‘‘(2) INSTITUTIONS.—The Secretary shall carry 5 out not more than 1 demonstration project under 6 the pilot program at any single institution of higher 7 education. 8 ‘‘(e) PROJECT ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary 9 shall establish criteria and parameters for selecting, oper- 10 ating, monitoring, and terminating each demonstration 11 project under the pilot program. 12 ‘‘(f) PROJECT TERMINATION.—To the maximum ex- 13 tent practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that the termi- 14 nation of a demonstration project under the pilot program 15 shall not cause sudden adverse changes or the elimination 16 of benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance 17 program for students participating in the demonstration 18 project. 19 ‘‘(g) PROGRAM TERMINATION.—The pilot program 20 shall terminate on the date that is 10 years after the date 21 on which the pilot program is established. 22 ‘‘(h) EVALUATION.—For the duration of the pilot 23 program, the Secretary shall, in collaboration with the 24 Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2143 IS and the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, 1 conduct an annual evaluation of each demonstration 2 project carried out under the pilot program during the 3 year covered by the evaluation, including an analysis of 4 the extent to which the project is meeting the desired out- 5 comes. 6 ‘‘(i) REPORT.—For the duration of the pilot program, 7 the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Agri- 8 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry and Health, Education, 9 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committees 10 on Agriculture and Education and Labor of the House of 11 Representatives an annual report that includes— 12 ‘‘(1) a description of each demonstration project 13 carried out under the pilot program during the year 14 covered by the report; 15 ‘‘(2) the evaluation conducted under subsection 16 (h); and 17 ‘‘(3) recommendations for legislation to improve 18 the supplemental nutrition assistance program to 19 better serve college students. 20 ‘‘(j) WAIVER AND MODIFICATION AUTHORITY.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 22 the Secretary may, as may be necessary solely to 23 carry out the pilot program— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2143 IS ‘‘(A) waive any provision under this Act, 1 including— 2 ‘‘(i) the requirement relating to local 3 sales tax under section 4(a); 4 ‘‘(ii) requirements relating to the 5 issuance and use of supplemental nutrition 6 assistance program benefits under section 7 7; and 8 ‘‘(iii) requirements for approval of re- 9 tail food stores under section 9; and 10 ‘‘(B) modify the definitions under this Act 11 for the purposes of the pilot program, including 12 the definition of— 13 ‘‘(i) the term ‘food’ under section 14 3(k); 15 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘household’ under sec- 16 tion 3(m); and 17 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘retail food store’ under 18 section 3(o). 19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not 20 waive a provision or modify a definition under para- 21 graph (1) if the waiver or modification will— 22 ‘‘(A) cause increased difficulty for any 23 household to apply for or access supplemental 24 nutrition assistance program benefits; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2143 IS ‘‘(B) reduce the value of those benefits for 1 any household. 2 ‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 4 sums as are necessary to carry out this section.’’. 5 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 6 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 7 take effect on the first day of the fiscal year that begins 8 after the date of enactment of this Act. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2143.IS S2143 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS