FEED the Children Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6801 To provide reimbursements for the emergency operational costs of school food authorities during the COVID–19 pandemic, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2020 Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. WILD, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. BUSTOS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. RUSH, Mr. COX of California, and Mr. TED LIEU of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide reimbursements for the emergency operational costs of school food authorities during the COVID–19 pandemic, 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 ‘‘Funding Emergency 4 Eating Distribution for the Children’’ or the ‘‘FEED the 5 Children Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6801 IH SEC. 2. EMERGENCY COSTS FOR CHILD NUTRITION PRO- 1 GRAMS DURING COVID–19 PANDEMIC. 2 (a) USE OF CERTAIN APPROPRIATIONS TO COVER 3 EMERGENCY OPERATIONAL COSTS UNDER SCHOOL MEAL 4 PROGRAMS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.— 6 (A) REQUIRED ALLOTMENTS.—Notwith- 7 standing any other provision of law, the Sec- 8 retary shall allocate to each State that partici- 9 pates in the reimbursement program under 10 paragraph (3) such amounts as may be nec- 11 essary to carry out reimbursements under such 12 paragraph for each reimbursement month, in- 13 cluding, subject to paragraph (4)(B), adminis- 14 trative expenses necessary to make such reim- 15 bursements. 16 (B) GUIDANCE WITH RESPECT TO PRO- 17 GRAM.—Not later than 10 days after the date 18 of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 19 shall issue guidance with respect to the reim- 20 bursement program under paragraph (3). 21 (2) REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM APPLICA- 22 TION.—To participate in the reimbursement pro- 23 gram under paragraph (3), not later than 30 days 24 after the date described in paragraph (1), a State 25 shall submit an application to the Secretary that in- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6801 IH cludes a plan to calculate and disburse reimburse- 1 ments under the reimbursement program under 2 paragraph (3). 3 (3) REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM.—Using the 4 amounts allocated under paragraph (1)(A), a State 5 participating in the reimbursement program under 6 this paragraph shall make reimbursements for emer- 7 gency operational costs for each reimbursement 8 month as follows: 9 (A) For each new school food authority in 10 the State for the reimbursement month, an 11 amount equal to 55 percent of the amount 12 equal to— 13 (i) the average monthly amount such 14 new school food authority was reimbursed 15 under the reimbursement sections for 16 meals and supplements served by such new 17 school food authority during the alternate 18 period; minus 19 (ii) the amount such new school food 20 authority was reimbursed under the reim- 21 bursement sections for meals and supple- 22 ments served by such new school food au- 23 thority during such reimbursement month. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6801 IH (B) For each school food authority not de- 1 scribed in subparagraph (A) in the State for 2 the reimbursement month, an amount equal to 3 55 percent of— 4 (i) the amount such school food au- 5 thority was reimbursed under the reim- 6 bursement sections for meals and supple- 7 ments served by such school food authority 8 for the month beginning one year before 9 such reimbursement month; minus 10 (ii) the amount such school food au- 11 thority was reimbursed under the reim- 12 bursement sections for meals and supple- 13 ments served by such school food authority 14 during such reimbursement month. 15 (4) TREATMENT OF FUNDS.— 16 (A) AVAILABILITY.—Funds allocated to a 17 State under paragraph (1)(A) shall remain 18 available until March 30, 2021. 19 (B) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A State 20 may reserve not more than 1 percent of the 21 funds allocated under paragraph (1)(A) for ad- 22 ministrative expenses to carry out this sub- 23 section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6801 IH (C) UNEXPENDED BALANCE.—On Sep- 1 tember 30, 2021, any amounts allocated to a 2 State under paragraph (1)(A) or reimbursed to 3 a school food authority or new school food au- 4 thority under paragraph (3) that are unex- 5 pended by such State, school food authority, or 6 new school food authority shall revert to the 7 Secretary. 8 (5) REPORTS.—Each State that carries out a 9 reimbursement program under paragraph (3) shall, 10 not later than September 30, 2021, submit a report 11 to the Secretary that includes a summary of the use 12 of such funds by the State and each school food au- 13 thority and new school food authority in such State. 14 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 (1) ALTERNATE PERIOD.—The term ‘‘alternate 16 period’’ means the period beginning January 1, 17 2020, and ending February 29, 2020. 18 (2) EMERGENCY OPERATIONAL COSTS.—The 19 term ‘‘emergency operational costs’’ means the costs 20 incurred by a school food authority or new school 21 food authority— 22 (A) during a public health emergency; 23 (B) that are related to the ongoing oper- 24 ation, modified operation, or temporary suspen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6801 IH sion of operation (including administrative 1 costs) of such school food authority or new 2 school food authority; and 3 (C) except as provided under subsection 4 (a), that are not reimbursed under a Federal 5 grant. 6 (3) NEW SCHOOL FOOD AUTHORITY.—The term 7 ‘‘new school food authority’’ means a school food au- 8 thority for which no reimbursements were made 9 under the reimbursement sections with respect to 10 the previous reimbursement period. 11 (4) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—The term 12 ‘‘public health emergency’’ means a public health 13 emergency declared pursuant to section 319 of the 14 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) result- 15 ing from the COVID–19 pandemic. 16 (5) REIMBURSEMENT MONTH.—The term ‘‘re- 17 imbursement month’’ means March 2020, April 18 2020, May 2020, and June 2020. 19 (6) REIMBURSEMENT SECTIONS.—The term 20 ‘‘reimbursement sections’’ means— 21 (A) section 4(b), section 11(a)(2), section 22 13, and section 17A(c) of the Richard B. Rus- 23 sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6801 IH 1753(b); 42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(2); 42 U.S.C. 1 1761; 42 U.S.C. 1766a(c)); and 2 (B) section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 3 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 4 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 5 the Secretary of Agriculture. 6 (8) STATE.— The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 7 ing given such term in section 12(d)(8) of the Rich- 8 ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 9 U.S.C. 1760(d)(8)). 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6801.IH H6801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS