Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7887 To reimburse school food authorities at the free rate for meals served during school year 2020–2021 under the school breakfast program and the school lunch program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 30, 2020 Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself, Ms. OMAR, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. RYAN, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. WILD, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. ADAMS, Mrs. HAYES, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To reimburse school food authorities at the free rate for meals served during school year 2020–2021 under the school breakfast program and the school lunch program, 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 ‘‘Pandemic Child Hun- 4 ger Prevention Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7887 IH SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT FOR MEALS SERVED DURING 1 SCHOOL YEAR 2020–2021. 2 (a) PROVISIONS RELATING TO SCHOOL YEAR 2020– 3 2021.— 4 (1) REIMBURSEMENTS DURING SCHOOL YEAR 5 2020–2021.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 6 law, during school year 2020–2021, in making reim- 7 bursements to a State— 8 (A) for lunches served by school food au- 9 thorities in such State under the school lunch 10 program under the Richard B. Russell National 11 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), the 12 Secretary shall reimburse such State at the free 13 lunch rate; and 14 (B) for breakfasts served by school food 15 authorities in such State under the school 16 breakfast program under section 4 of the Child 17 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), the 18 Secretary shall reimburse such State at the free 19 breakfast rate. 20 (2) PARTICIPATION IN MEAL PROGRAMS DUR- 21 ING SCHOOL YEAR 2020–2021.—Notwithstanding any 22 other provision of law, during school year 2020– 23 2021, all children enrolled in a school that partici- 24 pates— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7887 IH (A) in the school lunch program under the 1 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 2 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) shall be eligible (with- 3 out application) to receive free lunch under 4 such Act; and 5 (B) in the school breakfast program under 6 section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 7 (42 U.S.C. 1773) shall be eligible (without ap- 8 plication) to receive free breakfast under such 9 section. 10 (3) ONE-TIME ELECTION TO EXCLUDE SCHOOL 11 YEAR 2020–2021.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 12 sion of law, a local educational agency may make a 13 one-time election to exclude school year 2020–2021 14 from the 4-year period during which such local edu- 15 cational agency elects to receive payments under 16 subparagraphs (C), (E), or (F) of section 11(a)(1) 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 18 Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)). 19 (b) PROVISIONS RELATING TO SCHOOL YEAR 2021– 20 2022.— 21 (1) CALCULATION OF IDENTIFIED STUDENTS 22 FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2021–2022.—For school year 23 2021–2022, in determining the percentage of identi- 24 fied students under section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Rich- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7887 IH ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 1 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)), local educational agencies 2 and States— 3 (A) shall certify students in accordance 4 with paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (15) of sec- 5 tion 9(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) not 6 later than April 1, 2021; and 7 (B) notwithstanding any other provision of 8 law, may use the percentage of identified stu- 9 dents— 10 (i) as of August 31, 2020; or 11 (ii) as of August 31, 2021. 12 (2) SELECTION OF SCHOOLS UNDER FRESH 13 FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL 14 YEAR 2021–2022.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 15 sion of law, for purposes of participating in the pro- 16 gram under section 19 of the Richard B. Russell 17 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769a) dur- 18 ing school year 2021–2022, each State shall use the 19 percentage of identified students for such school 20 year determined in accordance with paragraph (1) to 21 determine which schools meet the requirements of 22 subsection (d)(1)(A)(i) of such section 19 (42 U.S.C. 23 1769a(d)(1)(A)(i)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7887 IH (3) PAID LUNCH CALCULATION FOR SCHOOL 1 YEAR 2021–2022.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 2 sion of law, for purposes of establishing a price for 3 paid lunches under section 12(p) of the Richard B. 4 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 5 1760(p)) for school year 2021–2022— 6 (A) school year 2020–2021 shall not apply 7 as the previous school year; and 8 (B) school year 2019–2020 shall apply as 9 the previous school year. 10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 (1) FREE BREAKFAST RATE.—The term ‘‘free 12 breakfast rate’’ means the amount equal to— 13 (A) the national average breakfast pay- 14 ment for free breakfast under section 15 4(b)(1)(B) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 16 (42 U.S.C. 1773(b)(1)(B)) (as adjusted pursu- 17 ant to section 11(a) of the Richard B. Russell 18 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 19 1759a(a))), plus 20 (B) in the case of a school food authority 21 that meets the requirements for severe need 22 under section 4(b)(2) of the Child Nutrition Act 23 of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773(b)(2)), the additional 24 payment amount specified under such section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7887 IH (as adjusted pursuant to section 11(a) of the 1 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 2 (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a))), plus 3 (C) the additional amount under section 4 4(b)(3) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 5 U.S.C. 1773(b)(3)). 6 (2) FREE LUNCH RATE.—The term ‘‘free lunch 7 rate’’ means the amount equal to— 8 (A) the national average lunch rate under 9 section 4(b)(2) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 10 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 11 1753(b)(2)) (as adjusted pursuant to section 12 11(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a))), plus 13 (B) in the case of a school food authority 14 in which 60 percent or more of the lunches 15 served in the school lunch program during the 16 second preceding school year were served free 17 or at a reduced price, the additional payment 18 amount specified under section 4(b)(2) of such 19 Act (42 U.S.C. 1753(b)(2)), plus 20 (C) in the case of a school food authority 21 that is determined eligible under subparagraph 22 (D) of section 4(b)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 23 1753(b)(3)), the additional payment amount 24 specified in subparagraph (C)(i) of such section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7887 IH (as adjusted pursuant to section 11(a) of such 1 Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a))), plus 2 (D) the applicable special assistance factor 3 under section 11(a)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1759a(a)(2)) (as adjusted pursuant to section 5 11(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a))). 6 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7 the Secretary of Agriculture. 8 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY UNDER OTHER CHILD NUTRITION 9 PROGRAMS DURING SCHOOL YEAR 2020–2021. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 11 sion of law, during school year 2020–2021, each child en- 12 rolled in a school that participates in the school lunch pro- 13 gram under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 14 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or in the school breakfast 15 program under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 16 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) shall be treated under a qualified 17 child nutrition program as a child certified eligible (with- 18 out application) for free school meals. 19 (b) QUALIFIED CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAM DE- 20 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘qualified child nutri- 21 tion program’’ means— 22 (1) the summer food service program for chil- 23 dren under section 13(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Richard B. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7887 IH Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1 1761(a)(1)(A)(i)); 2 (2) the program for at-risk school children 3 under section 17(r) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 4 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766(r)); and 5 (3) the meal supplements for children in after- 6 school care program under section 17A of the Rich- 7 ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 8 U.S.C. 1766a). 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7887.IH H7887 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS