Military Dependents School Meal Eligibility Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8534 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow direct certification of children in households of active duty members of the Armed Forces for certain Federal school meal programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 6, 2020 Mrs. DAVIS of California (for herself and Mr. LEVIN of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow direct certification of children in households of active duty members of the Armed Forces for certain Federal school meal programs, 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 ‘‘Military Dependents 4 School Meal Eligibility Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8534 IH SEC. 2. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR DEPENDENT CHIL- 1 DREN OF ACTIVE DUTY MEMBERS OF THE 2 ARMED FORCES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Richard B. Rus- 4 sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758) is 5 amended— 6 (1) in subsection (b)— 7 (A) in paragraph (5)— 8 (i) by striking ‘‘CERTIFICATION.— 9 Subject’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘CER- 10 TIFICATION.— 11 ‘‘(A) FREE LUNCHES OR BREAKFASTS.— 12 Subject’’; 13 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 14 (A) through (D) as clauses (i) through (iv) 15 and adjusting the margins accordingly; 16 (iii) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, 17 by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 18 (iv) by inserting after clause (iv), as 19 so redesignated, the following: 20 ‘‘(v) a member of a household in 21 which a child is a dependent of an active 22 duty member of the Armed Forces and 23 such active duty member has a military in- 24 come (as defined in paragraph (16)(C)) 25 that does not exceed 130 percent of the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8534 IH poverty line (as defined by the Office of 1 Management and Budget).’’; 2 (v) in subparagraph (E)— 3 (I) by redesignating such sub- 4 paragraph as clause (vi) and adjusting 5 the margins accordingly; and 6 (II) by redesignating clauses (i) 7 and (ii) of such subparagraph as sub- 8 clauses (I) and (II) and adjusting the 9 margins accordingly; and 10 (vi) by adding at the end the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(B) REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES OR 13 BREAKFASTS.—Subject to paragraph (6), any 14 local educational agency may certify any child 15 who is not eligible for free school lunch or 16 breakfast as eligible for reduced price lunches 17 or breakfasts, without further application, by 18 directly communicating with the appropriate 19 State or local agency to obtain documentation 20 of the status of the child as a member of a 21 household in which a child is a dependent of an 22 active duty member of the Armed Forces and 23 such active duty member has a military income 24 (as defined in paragraph (16)(C)) that does not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8534 IH exceed 185 percent of the poverty line (as de- 1 fined by the Office of Management and Budg- 2 et).’’; 3 (B) in paragraph (6)(A)— 4 (i) in clause (iv)(II), by striking 5 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 6 (ii) in clause (v), by striking the pe- 7 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(vi) a person directly connected with 11 the administration or enforcement of the 12 Department of Defense Integrated Per- 13 sonnel and Pay System.’’; and 14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(16) DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR DEPENDENT 16 CHILDREN OF ACTIVE DUTY MEMBERS OF THE 17 ARMED FORCES.— 18 ‘‘(A) AGREEMENT.— 19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 20 making eligibility determinations with re- 21 spect to certifying children under subpara- 22 graph (A)(v) or (B) of paragraph (5), a 23 State agency shall enter into an agreement 24 with the Secretary of Defense. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8534 IH ‘‘(ii) WITHOUT FURTHER APPLICA- 1 TION.—Subject to paragraph (6), the 2 agreement described in clause (i) shall es- 3 tablish procedures for certifying children 4 under subparagraph (A)(v) or (B) of para- 5 graph (5), without further application (as 6 defined in paragraph (4)(G)). 7 ‘‘(B) ACCESS TO DATA.—For purposes of 8 carrying out this paragraph and subparagraph 9 (A)(v) or (B) of paragraph (5), the Secretary of 10 Defense shall provide the Secretary with access 11 to non-classified income information as may be 12 necessary to determine the military income of 13 an active duty member of the Armed Forces. 14 ‘‘(C) MILITARY INCOME.— 15 ‘‘(i) MILITARY INCOME DEFINED.— 16 For purposes of this subsection, the term 17 ‘military income’ means, with respect to an 18 active duty member of the Armed Forces, 19 the basic pay, basic allowance for subsist- 20 ence, basic allowance for housing (or appli- 21 cable cash equivalent), overseas housing al- 22 lowance, bonuses, and special and incentive 23 payments of such member, as reported by 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8534 IH the Department of Defense Integrated Per- 1 sonnel and Pay System. 2 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 3 child who is the dependent of one or more 4 active duty members of the Armed Forces, 5 the Secretary, in determining eligibility 6 under subparagraph (A)(v) or (B) of para- 7 graph (5), shall use the lesser of the mili- 8 tary incomes of such members.’’; and 9 (2) in subsection (d)(2)— 10 (A) in subparagraph (F)(ii), by striking 11 the ‘‘or’’ at the end; 12 (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking the 13 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(H) documentation has been provided to 16 the appropriate local educational agency show- 17 ing the status of the child as a member of a 18 household described in subparagraph (A)(v) or 19 (B) of subsection (b)(5).’’. 20 (b) CLARIFICATION.—Not later than 180 days after 21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 22 provide a process for a parent or guardian whose child 23 is directly certified under subparagraph (A)(v) or (B) of 24 section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National School 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8534 IH Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)), as added by this section, 1 to remove such certification. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8534.IH H8534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS