FORK Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1684 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a vehicle summer meal delivery pilot program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a vehicle summer meal delivery pilot 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 ‘‘Feeding Our Rural 4 Kids Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘FORK Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. VEHICLE SUMMER MEAL DELIVERY PILOT PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 Section 13(a) of the Richard B. Russell National 8 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761(a)) is amended by add- 9 ing at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1684.IS S1684 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1684 IS ‘‘(14) VEHICLE SUMMER MEAL DELIVERY 1 PILOT PROGRAM.— 2 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 3 In this paragraph, the term ‘eligible entity’ 4 means a service institution. 5 ‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 6 shall establish a pilot program (referred to in 7 this paragraph as the ‘pilot program’), to be 8 carried out beginning with the first summer fol- 9 lowing the date of enactment of this paragraph, 10 to award grants to eligible entities to purchase 11 or retrofit vehicles to facilitate the distribution 12 of noncongregate meals made available pursu- 13 ant to this section. 14 ‘‘(C) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants 15 under the pilot program, the Secretary shall 16 give priority to eligible entities— 17 ‘‘(i) with high rates of students who 18 are eligible for free or reduced price 19 lunches under this Act; and 20 ‘‘(ii) that serve a high proportion of 21 students from socially disadvantaged back- 22 grounds. 23 ‘‘(D) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In award- 24 ing grants under the pilot program, the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1684.IS S1684 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1684 IS retary shall ensure, to the maximum extent 1 practicable, that eligible entities receiving 2 grants are located in diverse geographic areas. 3 ‘‘(E) GRANTS.— 4 ‘‘(i) TERM.—The term of a grant 5 awarded under the pilot program shall be 6 1 year. 7 ‘‘(ii) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The 8 amount of a grant awarded under the pilot 9 program shall not exceed $100,000. 10 ‘‘(iii) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 11 An eligible entity awarded a grant under 12 the pilot program shall use not more than 13 10 percent of grant funds for administra- 14 tive expenses. 15 ‘‘(iv) REPORT REQUIREMENT.—Not 16 later than 1 year after receiving a grant 17 under the pilot program, an eligible entity 18 shall submit to the Secretary a report de- 19 scribing the use of the grant funds, includ- 20 ing— 21 ‘‘(I) the number of entities that 22 benefitted from the grant; and 23 ‘‘(II) the number of children 24 served as a result of the grant. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1684.IS S1684 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1684 IS ‘‘(F) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE; BEST PRAC- 1 TICES.—The Secretary shall provide technical 2 assistance to, and share best practices with, eli- 3 gible entities that receive grants under the pilot 4 program. 5 ‘‘(G) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years 6 after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 7 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 8 on the administration of the pilot program, in- 9 cluding a summary of the reports received pur- 10 suant to subparagraph (D)(iii). 11 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 12 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 13 to the Secretary to carry out the pilot program 14 $1,000,000 for each year of the 3-year period 15 beginning on the date of establishment of the 16 pilot program.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1684.IS S1684 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS