COVID-19 WIC Response Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6298 To waive and defer certain requirements under the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children during certain emer- gencies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 19, 2020 Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania (for himself and Ms. SCHRIER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To waive and defer certain requirements under the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children during certain emergencies, 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 ‘‘COVID-19 WIC Re- 4 sponse Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. PHYSICAL PRESENCE WAIVER UNDER WIC DURING 6 CERTAIN PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES. 7 (a) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6298.IH H6298 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6298 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 1 provision of law, the Secretary may grant a request 2 described in paragraph (2) to— 3 (A) waive the requirement under sub- 4 section (d)(3)(C)(i) of section 17 of the Child 5 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 6 1786(d)(3)(C)(i)); and 7 (B) defer anthropometric and bloodwork 8 requirements necessary to determine nutritional 9 risk under such section. 10 (2) REQUEST.—A request described in this 11 paragraph is a request made to the Secretary by a 12 State agency to waive, on behalf of the local agencies 13 served by such State agency, the requirements de- 14 scribed in paragraph (1) during any portion of the 15 emergency period (as defined in paragraph (1)(B) of 16 section 1135(g) of the Social Security Act (42 17 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g))) beginning on or after the date 18 of the enactment of this section. 19 (b) REPORTS.— 20 (1) LOCAL AGENCY REPORTS.—Each local 21 agency that uses a waiver pursuant to subsection (a) 22 shall, not later than 1 year after the date such local 23 agency uses such waiver, submit a report to the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6298.IH H6298 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6298 IH State agency serving such local agency that includes 1 the following: 2 (A) A summary of the use of such waiver 3 by the local agency. 4 (B) A description of whether such waiver 5 resulted in improved services to women, infants, 6 and children. 7 (2) STATE AGENCY REPORTS.—Each State 8 agency that receives a waiver under subsection (a), 9 shall, not later than 18 months after the date such 10 State agency received such waiver, submit a report 11 to the Secretary that includes the following: 12 (A) A summary of the reports received by 13 the State agency under paragraph (1). 14 (B) A description of whether such waiver 15 resulted in improved services to women, infants, 16 and children. 17 SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS WAIVER UNDER 18 WIC. 19 (a) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 21 provision of law, the Secretary may, if requested by 22 a State agency, modify or waive any qualified ad- 23 ministrative requirement with respect to such State 24 agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6298.IH H6298 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6298 IH (2) QUALIFIED ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIRE- 1 MENT.—In this section, the term ‘‘qualified adminis- 2 trative requirement’’ means an administrative re- 3 quirement under section 17 of the Child Nutrition 4 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786) that the Secretary de- 5 termines— 6 (A) cannot be met by a State agency due 7 to COVID-19; and 8 (B) the modification or waiver of which is 9 necessary to provide assistance under such sec- 10 tion. 11 (b) STATE AGENCY REPORTS.—Each State agency 12 that receives a waiver under subsection (a)(1), shall, not 13 later than 1 year after the date such State agency received 14 such waiver, submit a report to the Secretary that includes 15 the following: 16 (1) A summary of the use of such waiver by the 17 State agency. 18 (2) A description of whether such waiver re- 19 sulted in improved services to women, infants, and 20 children. 21 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 22 In this Act: 23 (1) LOCAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘local agency’’ 24 has the meaning given the term in section 17(b) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6298.IH H6298 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6298 IH the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1 1786(b)). 2 (2) NUTRITIONAL RISK.—The term ‘‘nutritional 3 risk’’ has the meaning given the term in section 4 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 5 1786(b)). 6 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7 the Secretary of Agriculture. 8 (4) STATE AGENCY.— The term ‘‘State agency’’ 9 has the meaning given the term in section 17(b) of 10 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 11 1786(b)). 12 SEC. 5. SUNSET. 13 The authorities under this Act shall expire on July 14 31, 2020. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6298.IH H6298 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS