HOME Meals Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7142 To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to establish a competitive grant program to enable States to purchase, customize, or repair vehicles with hot and cold food storage for delivering meals to older individuals through the Congregate Nutrition Program or the Home-Delivered Nutri- tion Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 8, 2020 Mr. VELA (for himself, Mr. KATKO, and Mrs. MCBATH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to establish a competitive grant program to enable States to pur- chase, customize, or repair vehicles with hot and cold food storage for delivering meals to older individuals through the Congregate Nutrition Program or the Home- Delivered Nutrition Program. 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 ‘‘Helping Our Most El- 4 derly secure Meals Act’’ or the ‘‘HOME Meals Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7142.IH H7142 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7142 IH SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR VEHICLES WITH HOT AND COLD FOOD 1 STORAGE FOR MEAL DELIVERY TO OLDER IN- 2 DIVIDUALS. 3 Subpart 3 of part C of title III of the Older Ameri- 4 cans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3030g–21 et seq.) is amend- 5 ed by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 340. GRANTS FOR VEHICLES WITH HOT AND COLD 7 FOOD STORAGE FOR MEAL DELIVERY. 8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary shall 9 award grants in accordance with subsection (c) on a com- 10 petitive basis to States receiving a grant under section 331 11 or 336 to enable such States to provide direct funds to 12 area agencies on aging and local nutrition service pro- 13 viders to purchase, customize, or repair vehicles meeting 14 the requirement under subsection (b) to be used in deliv- 15 ering meals to older individuals through an existing and 16 eligible nutrition project supported under either such sec- 17 tion. 18 ‘‘(b) VEHICLE REQUIREMENT.—The requirement 19 under this subsection is that the vehicle has the capability 20 to safely store hot food and cold food, as determined by 21 the Assistant Secretary, while delivering meals. 22 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS.— 23 ‘‘(1) APPLICATIONS.— 24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving a 25 grant under section 331 or 336 that seeks a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7142.IH H7142 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7142 IH grant under this section shall submit an appli- 1 cation to the Assistant Secretary at such time, 2 in such manner, and containing such informa- 3 tion as the Assistant Secretary may reasonably 4 require, including the demonstrations described 5 in subparagraph (B). 6 ‘‘(B) DEMONSTRATIONS.—An application 7 under this paragraph shall contain a dem- 8 onstration— 9 ‘‘(i) of how the State submitting the 10 application will use the grant to allow ex- 11 isting and eligible nutrition projects to en- 12 hance the delivery of services to older indi- 13 viduals with the greatest economic need 14 and older individuals with the greatest so- 15 cial need; and 16 ‘‘(ii) that the nutrition projects uti- 17 lizing the funds are in effect within the 18 State, on the date on which the State sub- 19 mits the application, to use vehicles meet- 20 ing the requirement under subsection (b) 21 to provide nutrition services under section 22 331 or 336. 23 ‘‘(2) SELECTION.—The Assistant Secretary, in 24 selecting States meeting the requirements under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7142.IH H7142 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7142 IH paragraph (1) to receive a grant under this section, 1 shall give preference to— 2 ‘‘(A) States with a high percentage of indi- 3 viduals who are 60 years of age or older; and 4 ‘‘(B) States with a high rate of individuals 5 at or below the poverty line. 6 ‘‘(d) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under this 7 section shall be for an amount that is equal to or less than 8 $3,000,000. 9 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 10 is authorized to be appropriated $60,000,000 for each of 11 fiscal years 2020 through 2024 to carry out this section.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7142.IH H7142 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS