Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3113 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligi- bility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the poverty level, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 5, 2023 Ms. PORTER (for herself, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CARSON, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. EVANS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate re- duced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the poverty level, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ex- 4 panding Access to School Meals Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3113 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act are as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES Sec. 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts. Sec. 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches. TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY Sec. 201. Poverty level for free lunch. Sec. 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits. Sec. 203. Retroactive reimbursement. Sec. 204. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier. TITLE I—REPEAL OF REDUCED 3 PRICE BREAKFASTS AND 4 LUNCHES 5 SEC. 101. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Child Nutrition 7 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1758) is amended by adding at 8 the end the following: 9 ‘‘(f) REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.— 10 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced 11 price breakfast program is repealed and the Secretary may 12 not provide reimbursements for reduced price breakfasts 13 under this section.’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Child Nutri- 15 tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) is amended— 16 (1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it 17 appears; 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3113 IH (2) by striking ‘‘for a reduced price’’ each place 1 it appears; 2 (3) by striking ‘‘or at a reduced price’’ each 3 place it appears; 4 (4) by striking ‘‘for reduced price breakfasts’’ 5 each place it appears; and 6 (5) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place 7 it appears. 8 (c) FURTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 9 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 10 1758(b)) is amended— 11 (1) in paragraph (1)— 12 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 13 second sentence; and 14 (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and 15 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph 16 (C). 17 SEC. 102. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Richard B. Russell National 19 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended 20 by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘SEC. 30. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES. 22 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re- 23 duced price lunch program is repealed and the Secretary 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3113 IH may not provide reimbursements for reduced price lunches 1 under this Act.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Richard B. 3 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 4 seq.) is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it 6 appears; 7 (2) by striking ‘‘or a reduced price’’ each place 8 it appears; 9 (3) by striking ‘‘or reduced-price’’ each place it 10 appears; 11 (4) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place 12 it appears; and 13 (5) by striking ‘‘a reduced price’’ each place it 14 appears. 15 TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE 16 LUNCH ELIGIBILITY 17 SEC. 201. POVERTY LEVEL FOR FREE LUNCH. 18 Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 19 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)) is 20 amended— 21 (1) by striking the third sentence; and 22 (2) by striking ‘‘130 percent’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘200 percent’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3113 IH SEC. 202. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN RECEIV- 1 ING MEDICAID BENEFITS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(b) of the Richard B. 3 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) 4 is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (5) by amending to read as 6 follows: 7 ‘‘(5) DISCRETIONARY CERTIFICATION.— 8 ‘‘(A) FREE LUNCHES OR BREAKFASTS.— 9 Subject to paragraph (6), any local educational 10 agency may certify any child as eligible for free 11 lunches or breakfasts, without further applica- 12 tion, by directly communicating with the appro- 13 priate State or local agency to obtain docu- 14 mentation of the status of the child as— 15 ‘‘(i) a member of a family that is re- 16 ceiving assistance under the temporary as- 17 sistance for needy families program funded 18 under part A of title IV of the Social Secu- 19 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); 20 ‘‘(ii) a homeless child or youth (de- 21 fined as 1 of the individuals described in 22 section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento 23 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 24 11434a(2))); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3113 IH ‘‘(iii) served by the runaway and 1 homeless youth grant program established 2 under the Runaway and Homeless Youth 3 Act (42 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.); 4 ‘‘(iv) a migratory child (as defined in 5 section 1309 of the Elementary and Sec- 6 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7 6399)); 8 ‘‘(v) an eligible child (as defined in 9 paragraph (15)(A)); or 10 ‘‘(vi)(I) a foster child whose care and 11 placement is the responsibility of an agen- 12 cy that administers a State plan under 13 part B or E of title IV of the Social Secu- 14 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq.); or 15 ‘‘(II) a foster child who a court has 16 placed with a caretaker household. 17 ‘‘(B) AGREEMENTS TO CARRY OUT CER- 18 TIFICATION.—To certify a child under subpara- 19 graph (A)(v), a State agency shall enter into an 20 agreement with 1 or more State agencies con- 21 ducting eligibility determinations for the Med- 22 icaid program. 23 ‘‘(C) PROCEDURES.—Subject to paragraph 24 (6), an agreement under subparagraph (B) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3113 IH shall establish procedures under which an eligi- 1 ble child may be certified for free lunches under 2 this Act and free breakfasts under section 4 of 3 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 4 1773), without further application (as defined 5 in paragraph (4)(G)).’’; 6 (2) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ‘‘or (5)’’ 7 both places it appears and inserting ‘‘(5), or (15)’’; 8 and 9 (3) by amending paragraph (15)(A)(i) to read 10 as follows: 11 ‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eli- 12 gible child’ means a child— 13 ‘‘(I)(aa) who is eligible for and 14 receiving medical assistance under the 15 Medicaid program; and 16 ‘‘(bb) who is a member of a fam- 17 ily with an income as measured by the 18 Medicaid program that does not ex- 19 ceed 200 percent of the poverty line 20 (as determined under the poverty 21 guidelines updated periodically in the 22 Federal Register by the Department 23 of Health and Human Services under 24 the authority of section 673(2) of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3113 IH Community Services Block Grant Act 1 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2), including any re- 2 vision required by such section)) ap- 3 plicable to a family of the size used 4 for purposes of determining eligibility 5 for the Medicaid program; 6 ‘‘(II) who is eligible for the Med- 7 icaid program because such child re- 8 ceives supplemental security income 9 benefits under title XVI of the Social 10 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381–1385) 11 or State supplementary benefits of the 12 type referred to in section 1616(a) of 13 such Act (or payments of the type de- 14 scribed in section 212(a) of Public 15 Law 93–66); 16 ‘‘(III) who is eligible for the 17 Medicaid program because such child 18 receives an adoption assistance pay- 19 ment made under section 473(a) of 20 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 21 673(a)) or under a similar State-fund- 22 ed or State-operated program, as de- 23 termined by the Secretary; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3113 IH ‘‘(IV) who is eligible for the Med- 1 icaid program because such child re- 2 ceives a kinship guardianship assist- 3 ance payment made under section 4 473(d) of the Social Security Act (42 5 U.S.C. 673(d)) or under a similar 6 State-funded or State-operated pro- 7 gram, as determined by the Secretary, 8 without regard to whether such child 9 was previously in foster care; or 10 ‘‘(V) who is a member of a 11 household (as that term is defined in 12 section 245.2 of title 7, Code of Fed- 13 eral Regulations (or successor regula- 14 tions)) with a child described in sub- 15 clause (I), (II), (III), or (IV).’’. 16 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 17 section shall apply with respect to school years beginning 18 on or after July 1, 2023. 19 SEC. 203. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 20 Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National 21 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amend- 22 ed— 23 (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3113 IH ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 1 (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub- 2 clauses (I) and (II); and 3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu- 5 cational agency shall revise a previously 6 submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi- 7 bility approval of a child for free meals for 8 the period that begins on the first day of 9 the current school year. 10 ‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this 11 subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means 12 any documentation provided by a school 13 food authority to a State agency in order 14 to receive reimbursement for the cost of a 15 meal served to a child by such school food 16 authority.’’. 17 SEC. 204. INCREASE OF COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PRO- 18 GRAM MULTIPLIER. 19 Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 20 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)) is 21 amended by striking clause (vii) and inserting the fol- 22 lowing: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3113 IH ‘‘(vii) MULTIPLIER.—For each school 1 year beginning on or after July 1, 2023, 2 the multiplier shall be 2.5.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3113.IH H3113 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB