Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696589954120.pdf (United States)
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- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1.

SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ex- panding Access to School Meals Act of 2023’’.
B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 2 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act are as follows: 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.
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 AND PRICE BREAKFASTS LUNCHES SEC.

101.

REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.
1758) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(f) REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced price breakfast program is repealed and the Secretary may not provide reimbursements for reduced price breakfasts under this section.’’.

15 16 17 18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Child Nutri- tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.

1771 et seq.)
is amended— (1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it appears; •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 3 (2) by striking ‘‘for a reduced price’’ each place it appears; (3) by striking ‘‘or at a reduced price’’ each place it appears; (4) by striking ‘‘for reduced price breakfasts’’ each place it appears; and (5) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place it appears.
(c) FURTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.

11 1758(b)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1)— (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the second sentence; and (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (C).

SEC.

102.

REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.

1751 et seq.)
1751 et seq.)

is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘SEC.

30.

REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES.

‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re- duced price lunch program is repealed and the Secretary •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 4 may not provide reimbursements for reduced price lunches under this Act.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.

1751 et seq.)

is amended— (1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it appears; (2) by striking ‘‘or a reduced price’’ each place it appears; (3) by striking ‘‘or reduced-price’’ each place it appears; (4) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place it appears; and (5) by striking ‘‘a reduced price’’ each place it appears.

TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY SEC.

201.

POVERTY LEVEL FOR FREE LUNCH.


Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na- tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.

1758(b)(1)(A)) is amended— 22 23 24 (1) by striking the third sentence; and (2) by striking ‘‘130 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘200 percent’’.

•HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 5 SEC.
202.

DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN RECEIV- ING MEDICAID BENEFITS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.
1758(b)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (5) by amending to read as follows: ‘‘(5) DISCRETIONARY CERTIFICATION.— ‘‘(A) FREE LUNCHES OR BREAKFASTS.— Subject to paragraph (6), any local educational agency may certify any child as eligible for free lunches or breakfasts, without further applica- tion, by directly communicating with the appro- priate State or local agency to obtain docu- mentation of the status of the child as— ‘‘(i) a member of a family that is re- ceiving assistance under the temporary as- sistance for needy families program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Secu- rity Act (42 U.S.C.
601 et seq.

); ‘‘(ii) a homeless child or youth (de- fined as 1 of the individuals described in section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
11434a(2))); •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ ‘‘(iii) served by the runaway and homeless youth grant program established under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C.

5701 et seq.
5701 et seq.

); ‘‘(iv) a migratory child (as defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Sec- ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

6399)); ‘‘(v) an eligible child (as defined in paragraph (15)(A)); or ‘‘(vi)(I) a foster child whose care and placement is the responsibility of an agen- cy that administers a State plan under part B or E of title IV of the Social Secu- rity Act (42 U.S.C.

621 et seq.

); or ‘‘(II) a foster child who a court has placed with a caretaker household.
‘‘(B) AGREEMENTS TO CARRY OUT CER- TIFICATION.—To certify a child under subpara- graph (A)(v), a State agency shall enter into an agreement with 1 or more State agencies con- ducting eligibility determinations for the Med- icaid program.
‘‘(C) PROCEDURES.—Subject to paragraph (6), an agreement under subparagraph (B) •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 7 shall establish procedures under which an eligi- ble child may be certified for free lunches under this Act and free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.
1773), without further application (as defined in paragraph (4)(G)).’’; (2) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ‘‘or (5)’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘(5), or (15)’’; and (3) by amending paragraph (15)(A)(i) to read as follows: ‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eli- gible child’ means a child— ‘‘(I)(aa) who is eligible for and receiving medical assistance under the Medicaid program; and ‘‘(bb) who is a member of a fam- ily with an income as measured by the Medicaid program that does not ex- ceed 200 percent of the poverty line (as determined under the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of section 673(2) of the •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C.
9902(2), including any re- vision required by such section)) ap- plicable to a family of the size used for purposes of determining eligibility for the Medicaid program; ‘‘(II) who is eligible for the Med- icaid program because such child re- ceives supplemental security income benefits under title XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1381–1385) or State supplementary benefits of the type referred to in section 1616(a) of such Act (or payments of the type de- scribed in section 212(a) of Public Law 93–66); ‘‘(III) who is eligible for the Medicaid program because such child receives an adoption assistance pay- ment made under section 473(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
673(a)) or under a similar State-fund- ed or State-operated program, as de- termined by the Secretary; •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 9 ‘‘(IV) who is eligible for the Med- icaid program because such child re- ceives a kinship guardianship assist- ance payment made under section 473(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
673(d)) or under a similar State-funded or State-operated pro- gram, as determined by the Secretary, without regard to whether such child was previously in foster care; or ‘‘(V) who is a member of a household (as that term is defined in section 245.2 of title 7, Code of Fed- eral Regulations (or successor regula- tions)) with a child described in sub- clause (I), (II), (III), or (IV).’’.
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to school years beginning on or after July 1, 2023.

20 21 22 SEC.

203.

RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT.

Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.
1758(b)(9)(C)) is amend- 23 ed— 24 25 (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol- lowing: •HR 3113 IH B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i 10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub- clauses (I) and (II); and (3) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu- cational agency shall revise a previously submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi- bility approval of a child for free meals for the period that begins on the first day of the current school year.
‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means any documentation provided by a school food authority to a State agency in order to receive reimbursement for the cost of a meal served to a child by such school food authority.’’.

SEC.

204.

INCREASE OF COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PRO- GRAM MULTIPLIER.

Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell Na- tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.
1759a(a)(1)(F)) is amended by striking clause (vii) and inserting the fol- lowing: B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i •HR 3113 IH 1 2 3 11 ‘‘(vii) MULTIPLIER.—For each school year beginning on or after July 1, 2023, the multiplier shall be 2.5.’’.
Æ B O J _ $ $ h t i w D O R P 2 X 7 W V L J K S D n o s n n b p i •HR 3113 IH