School MEALS Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2692 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve direct certification, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 24, 2019 Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve direct certification, 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 Modernization 4 and Efficient Access to Lunches for Students Act of 5 2019’’ or the ‘‘School MEALS Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. EXPANDING DIRECT CERTIFICATION. 7 Section 9(b)(4)(F)(iii)(II)(bb) of the Richard B. Rus- 8 sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2692 IS 1758(b)(4)(F)(iii)(II)(bb)) is amended by inserting ‘‘in 1 not more than 3 school years’’ after ‘‘measures’’. 2 SEC. 3. DIRECT CERTIFICATION IMPROVEMENT GRANTS 3 AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 4 Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 5 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by add- 6 ing at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(16) DIRECT CERTIFICATION IMPROVEMENT 8 GRANTS AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 9 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 10 ‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘el- 11 igible entity’ means— 12 ‘‘(I) a State agency; and 13 ‘‘(II) a Tribal organization. 14 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In- 15 dian Tribe’ has the meaning given the 16 term ‘Indian tribe’ in section 4 of the In- 17 dian Self-Determination and Education 18 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 19 ‘‘(iii) RATE OF DIRECT CERTIFI- 20 CATION.—The term ‘rate of direct certifi- 21 cation’ means the percentage of children 22 eligible for direct certification under para- 23 graphs (4) and (5) for a school year that 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2692 IS were directly certified under those para- 1 graphs for that school year. 2 ‘‘(iv) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The 3 term ‘Tribal organization’ has the meaning 4 given the term ‘tribal organization’ in sec- 5 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 6 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 7 5304). 8 ‘‘(B) GRANTS.— 9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 10 shall provide grants to eligible entities that 11 administer the school lunch program under 12 this Act to improve the rate of direct cer- 13 tification in the State in which the eligible 14 entity is located. 15 ‘‘(ii) PRIORITY.—In providing grants 16 under clause (i), the Secretary shall give 17 priority to States and Tribal organizations 18 with the lowest rates of direct certification. 19 ‘‘(iii) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible en- 20 tity that receives a grant under clause (i) 21 shall use the grant funds to pay costs re- 22 lating to improving the rate of direct cer- 23 tification in the State or Indian Tribe, as 24 applicable, including the cost of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2692 IS ‘‘(I) improving technology relat- 1 ing to direct certification; 2 ‘‘(II) providing technical assist- 3 ance to local educational agencies; 4 ‘‘(III) newly implementing or re- 5 vising a direct certification system or 6 process in the State (including at local 7 educational agencies in the State) or 8 Indian Tribe, including the cost of 9 equipment; and 10 ‘‘(IV) coordinating with multiple 11 public benefits programs to increase 12 the rate of direct certification, includ- 13 ing by conducting feasibility studies 14 and demonstration projects under sec- 15 tion 18(c). 16 ‘‘(C) FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM ON 17 INDIAN RESERVATIONS.— 18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 19 shall provide grants to States and Tribal 20 organizations administering the food dis- 21 tribution program on Indian reservations 22 under section 4(b) of the Food and Nutri- 23 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013(b))— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2692 IS ‘‘(I) in the case of a Tribal orga- 1 nization, if applicable, to establish a 2 rate of direct certification of children 3 that are members of households re- 4 ceiving assistance under that pro- 5 gram; or 6 ‘‘(II) to improve the rate of di- 7 rect certification of children that are 8 members of households receiving as- 9 sistance under that program. 10 ‘‘(ii) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or 11 Tribal organization receiving a grant under 12 this subparagraph shall use the funds to 13 pay the costs described in subparagraph 14 (B)(iii). 15 ‘‘(D) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec- 16 retary shall provide technical assistance to as- 17 sist the recipients of grants under subpara- 18 graphs (B) and (C), and other eligible entities, 19 as appropriate, in improving the rates of direct 20 certification. 21 ‘‘(E) FUNDING.— 22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—On October 1, 23 2019, out of any funds in the Treasury not 24 otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2692 IS the Treasury shall transfer to the Sec- 1 retary to carry out this paragraph 2 $28,000,000, to remain available until ex- 3 pended. 4 ‘‘(ii) FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM 5 ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS.—Of the funds 6 transferred to the Secretary under clause 7 (i), the Secretary shall use not less than 8 $2,000,000 to carry out subparagraph (C). 9 ‘‘(iii) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Of 10 the funds transferred to the Secretary 11 under clause (i), the Secretary shall use 12 not more than $3,000,000 to carry out 13 subparagraph (D). 14 ‘‘(iv) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE.— 15 The Secretary shall be entitled to receive, 16 shall accept, and shall use to carry out this 17 paragraph the funds transferred under 18 clause (i), without further appropriation.’’. 19 SEC. 4. ENHANCING THE COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY OPTION. 20 Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 21 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)) is 22 amended— 23 (1) in clause (iv)— 24 (A) in subclause (I)(bb)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2692 IS (i) by striking ‘‘as of April 1 of the 1 prior school year’’ and inserting ‘‘during 2 the period beginning on April 1 of the 3 prior school year and ending on the last 4 day of that school year’’; and 5 (ii) by striking ‘‘as of April 1 of the 6 school year prior’’ and all that follows 7 through ‘‘subparagraph’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘during the period beginning on April 1 of 9 the covered school year and ending on the 10 last day of the covered school year’’; and 11 (B) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(III) DEFINITION OF COVERED 13 SCHOOL YEAR.—In this clause, the 14 term ‘covered school year’ means the 15 school year prior to the first school 16 year that a school or local educational 17 agency elected to receive special as- 18 sistance payments under this subpara- 19 graph.’’; and 20 (2) in clause (x)— 21 (A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘for the 22 next school year if, not later than June 30 of 23 the current school year,’’ and inserting ‘‘if’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2692 IS (B) in subclause (II)(aa), by inserting ‘‘, 1 based on counts conducted by schools of identi- 2 fied students beginning on or after April 1 of 3 that school year,’’ after ‘‘clause (viii)’’; and 4 (C) in subclause (IV)(aa), by inserting ‘‘, 5 based on counts conducted by schools of identi- 6 fied students beginning on or after April 1 of 7 that school year,’’ after ‘‘clause (viii)’’. 8 SEC. 5. ENHANCING DIRECT CERTIFICATION. 9 Section 9(b)(15)(B)(ii)(III) of the Richard B. Russell 10 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 11 1758(b)(15)(B)(ii)(III)) is amended by striking ‘‘10’’ and 12 inserting ‘‘20’’. 13 SEC. 6. STATE PERFORMANCE ON ENROLLING CHILDREN 14 RECEIVING PROGRAM BENEFITS FOR FREE 15 SCHOOL MEALS. 16 Section 4301(b) of the Food, Conservation, and En- 17 ergy Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 1758a(b)) is amended— 18 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 19 end; 20 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 21 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 22 (3) by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(4) in the case of a State identified under 24 clause (ii)(I) of section 9(b)(4)(F) of the Richard B. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2692 IS Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1 1758(b)(4)(F)), a description of— 2 ‘‘(A) the technical assistance provided to 3 the State; and 4 ‘‘(B) the progress made by the State in 5 implementing the measures and meeting the 6 goals described in items (aa) through (cc) of 7 clause (iii)(II) of that section.’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2692.IS S2692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS