Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5308 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligi- bility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the poverty- level, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 5, 2019 Mr. RYAN (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. JACKSON LEE, and Mrs. HAYES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate re- duced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the pov- erty-level, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ex- 4 panding Access to School Meals Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5308 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act are as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES Sec. 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts. Sec. 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches. TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY Sec. 201. Poverty level for free lunch. Sec. 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits. Sec. 203. Direct certification for children enrolled in CHIP. Sec. 204. Retroactive reimbursement. Sec. 205. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier. TITLE I—REPEAL OF REDUCED 3 PRICE BREAKFASTS AND 4 LUNCHES 5 SEC. 101. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Child Nutrition 7 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1758) is amended by adding at 8 the end the following: 9 ‘‘(f) REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.— 10 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced 11 price breakfast program is repealed and the Secretary may 12 not provide reimbursements for reduced price breakfasts 13 under this section.’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Child Nutri- 15 tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) is amended— 16 (1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it 17 appears; 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5308 IH (2) by striking ‘‘for a reduced price’’ each place 1 it appears; 2 (3) by striking ‘‘or at a reduced price’’ each 3 place it appears; 4 (4) by striking ‘‘for reduced price breakfasts’’ 5 each place it appears; and 6 (5) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place 7 it appears. 8 (c) FURTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 9 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 10 1758(b)) is amended— 11 (1) in paragraph (1)— 12 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 13 second sentence; and 14 (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and 15 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph 16 (C). 17 SEC. 102. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Richard B. Russell National 19 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended 20 by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘SEC. 30. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES. 22 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re- 23 duced price lunch program is repealed and the Secretary 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5308 IH may not provide reimbursements for reduced price lunches 1 under this Act.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Richard B. 3 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 4 seq.) is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it 6 appears; 7 (2) by striking ‘‘or a reduced price’’ each place 8 it appears; 9 (3) by striking ‘‘or reduced-price’’ each place it 10 appears; 11 (4) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place 12 it appears; and 13 (5) by striking ‘‘a reduced price’’ each place it 14 appears. 15 TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE 16 LUNCH ELIGIBILITY 17 SEC. 201. POVERTY LEVEL FOR FREE LUNCH. 18 Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 19 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)) is 20 amended— 21 (1) by striking the third sentence; and 22 (2) by striking ‘‘130 percent’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘200 percent’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5308 IH SEC. 202. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN RECEIV- 1 ING MEDICAID BENEFITS. 2 Section 9(b)(15) of the Richard B. Russell National 3 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(15)) is amended to 4 read as follows: 5 ‘‘(15) DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN 6 RECEIVING MEDICAID BENEFITS.— 7 ‘‘(A) AGREEMENT.—Beginning not later 8 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 9 the Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 10 2019, each State agency shall enter into an 11 agreement with the one or more State agencies 12 conducting eligibility determinations for the 13 Medicaid program. 14 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.—Subject to paragraph 15 (6), the agreement shall establish procedures 16 under which an eligible child shall be certified 17 for free lunches under this Act and free break- 18 fasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 19 of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), without further ap- 20 plication. 21 ‘‘(C) CERTIFICATION.—Subject to para- 22 graph (6), under the agreement, the local edu- 23 cational agencies for a school lunch program 24 under this Act and a school breakfast program 25 under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5308 IH U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) shall certify an eligible 1 child as eligible for free lunches under this Act 2 and free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child 3 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), with- 4 out further application. 5 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 6 ‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eli- 7 gible child’ means a child— 8 ‘‘(I) is a member of a family that 9 meets the income eligibility require- 10 ments under paragraph (1)(A); and 11 ‘‘(II) is enrolled in medical as- 12 sistance under a Medicaid State plan 13 (or a waiver of such plan) under title 14 XIX of the Social Security Act (42 15 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) 16 ‘‘(ii) MEDICAID PROGRAM.—The term 17 Medicaid program means the program of 18 medical assistance established under title 19 XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 20 1396 et seq.). 21 ‘‘(E) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap- 22 plies to— 23 ‘‘(i) in the case of the school year be- 24 ginning July 2020, a school district that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5308 IH had an enrollment of 25,000 students or 1 more in the preceding school year; 2 ‘‘(ii) in the case of the school year be- 3 ginning July 2021, a school district that 4 had an enrollment of 10,000 students or 5 more in the preceding school year; and 6 ‘‘(iii) in the case of the school year be- 7 ginning July 2022, and each subsequent 8 school year, each local educational agen- 9 cy.’’. 10 SEC. 203. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN EN- 11 ROLLED IN CHIP. 12 Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 13 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by add- 14 ing at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(16) DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN 16 ENROLLED IN CHIP.— 17 ‘‘(A) AGREEMENT.—Beginning not later 18 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 19 this paragraph, each State agency shall enter 20 into an agreement with the State agency con- 21 ducting eligibility determinations for child 22 health assistance under a State child health 23 plan (or a waiver of such plan) under title XXI 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5308 IH of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397 et 1 seq.). 2 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.—Subject to paragraph 3 (6), the agreement shall establish procedures 4 under which an eligible child shall be certified 5 as eligible for free lunches under this Act and 6 free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nu- 7 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), without 8 further application. 9 ‘‘(C) CERTIFICATION.—Subject to para- 10 graph (6), under the agreement, the local edu- 11 cational agency conducting eligibility determina- 12 tions for a school lunch program under this Act 13 and a school breakfast program under the Child 14 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) 15 shall certify an eligible child as eligible for free 16 lunches under this Act and free breakfasts 17 under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 18 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), without further appli- 19 cation. 20 ‘‘(D) ELIGIBLE CHILD DEFINED.—In this 21 paragraph, the term ‘eligible child’ means a 22 child who— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5308 IH ‘‘(i) is a member of a family that 1 meets the income eligibility requirements 2 under paragraph (1)(A); and 3 ‘‘(ii) is enrolled in child health assist- 4 ance under a State child health plan (or a 5 waiver of such plan) under title XXI of the 6 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397 et 7 seq.) 8 ‘‘(E) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap- 9 plies to— 10 ‘‘(i) in the case of the school year be- 11 ginning July 2020, a school district that 12 had an enrollment of 25,000 students or 13 more in the preceding school year; 14 ‘‘(ii) in the case of the school year be- 15 ginning July 2021, a school district that 16 had an enrollment of 10,000 students or 17 more in the preceding school year; and 18 ‘‘(iii) in the case of the school year be- 19 ginning July 2022, and each subsequent 20 school year, each local educational agen- 21 cy.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 5308 IH SEC. 204. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 1 Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National 2 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amend- 3 ed— 4 (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 7 (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub- 8 clauses (I) and (II); and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu- 11 cational agency shall revise a previously 12 submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi- 13 bility approval of a child for free meals for 14 the period that begins on the earlier of the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(I) The first day of the current 17 school year. 18 ‘‘(II) The date that is 90 days 19 prior to the date of such eligibility ap- 20 proval. 21 ‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this 22 subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means 23 any documentation provided by a school 24 food authority to a State agency in order 25 to receive reimbursement for the cost of a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 5308 IH meal served to a child by such school food 1 authority.’’. 2 SEC. 205. INCREASE OF COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PRO- 3 GRAM MULTIPLIER. 4 Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 5 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)) is 6 amended by striking clause (vii) and inserting the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(vii) MULTIPLIER.—For each school 9 year beginning on or after July 1, 2020, 10 the multiplier shall be 1.8’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5308.IH H5308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS