COVID–19 Child Nutrition Response Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6203 To provide for certain waivers of program requirements under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to appropriately address safety measures with respect to COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 11, 2020 Ms. BONAMICI (for herself and Mr. COMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide for certain waivers of program requirements under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to appropriately address safety measures with re- spect to COVID–19, 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 ‘‘COVID–19 Child Nu- 4 trition Response Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM REQUIRE- 6 MENT WAIVERS ADDRESSING COVID–19. 7 (a) NATIONWIDE WAIVER.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Mar 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6203.IH H6203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6203 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 1 provision of law, the Secretary may establish a waiv- 2 er for all States under section 12(l) of the Richard 3 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1760(l)), for purposes of— 5 (A) providing meals and meal supplements 6 under a qualified program; and 7 (B) carrying out subparagraph (A) with 8 appropriate safety measures with respect to 9 COVID–19, as determined by the Secretary. 10 (2) STATE ELECTION.—A waiver established 11 under paragraph (1) shall— 12 (A) notwithstanding paragraph (2) of sec- 13 tion 12(l) of the Richard B. Russell National 14 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(l)), apply 15 automatically to any State that elects to be sub- 16 ject to the waiver without further application; 17 and 18 (B) not be subject to the requirements 19 under paragraph (3) of such section. 20 (b) CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM WAIV- 21 ER.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec- 22 retary may grant a waiver under section 12(l) of the Rich- 23 ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 24 1760(l)) to allow non-congregate feeding under a child and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Mar 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6203.IH H6203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6203 IH adult care food program under section 17 of the Richard 1 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766) 2 if such waiver is for the purposes of— 3 (1) providing meals and meal supplements 4 under such child and adult care food program; and 5 (2) carrying out paragraph (1) with appropriate 6 safety measures with respect to COVID–19, as de- 7 termined by the Secretary. 8 (c) MEAL PATTERN WAIVER.—Notwithstanding 9 paragraph (4)(A) of section 12(l) of the Richard B. Rus- 10 sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(l)) the 11 Secretary may grant a waiver under such section that re- 12 lates to the nutritional content of meals served if the Sec- 13 retary determines that— 14 (1) such waiver is necessary to provide meals 15 and meal supplements under a qualified program; 16 and 17 (2) there is a supply chain disruption with re- 18 spect to foods served under such a qualified program 19 and such disruption is due to COVID–19. 20 (d) REPORTS.—Each State that receives a waiver 21 under subsection (a), (b), or (c), shall, not later than 1 22 year after the date such State received such waiver, sub- 23 mit a report to the Secretary that includes the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Mar 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6203.IH H6203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6203 IH (1) A summary of the use of such waiver by the 1 State and eligible service providers. 2 (2) A description of whether such waiver re- 3 sulted in improved services to children. 4 (e) SUNSET.—The authority of the Secretary to es- 5 tablish or grant a waiver under this section shall expire 6 on July 31, 2020. 7 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) QUALIFIED PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘qualified 9 program’’ means the following: 10 (A) The school lunch program under the 11 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 12 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 13 (B) The school breakfast program under 14 section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 15 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 16 (C) The child and adult care food program 17 under section 17 of the Richard B. Russell Na- 18 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766). 19 (D) The summer food service program for 20 children under section 13 of the Richard B. 21 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 22 1761). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Mar 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6203.IH H6203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6203 IH (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Agriculture. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Mar 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6203.IH H6203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS