II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4602 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit 

the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 25, 2022 

Ms. SMITH 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 prohibit the stigmatization of children who are 

unable to pay for school meals, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Shame at School 

5 Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MANDATORY CERTIFICATION. 

7 Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. Russell National 

8 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘DIS2 CRETIONARY’’ and inserting ‘‘MANDATORY’’; and 

3 (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

4 by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 

5 SEC. 3. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 

6 Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National 

7 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amend8 ed— 

9 (1) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub10 clauses (I) and (II), respectively, and indenting ap11 propriately; 

12 (2) in the matter preceding subclause (I) (as so 

13 redesignated), by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; and 

16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.— 

18 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A local edu19 cational agency shall revise a pre20 viously submitted meal claim to reflect 

21 the eligibility approval of a child for 

22 free or reduced price meals for the pe23 riod that begins on the first day of 

24 the current school year. 


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1 ‘‘(II) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In 

2 this clause, the term ‘meal claim’ 

3 means any documentation provided by 

4 a school food authority to a State 

5 agency in order to receive reimburse6 ment for the cost of a meal served to 

7 a child by that school food author8 ity.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID 

10 SCHOOL MEAL FEES. 

11 Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 

12 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by 

13 striking paragraph (10) and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(10) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH

15 UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

16 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(i) COVERED CHILD.—The term 

18 ‘covered child’ means a child who— 

19 ‘‘(I) is enrolled in a school that 

20 participates in the school lunch pro21 gram under this Act or the school 

22 breakfast program under section 4 of 

23 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

24 U.S.C. 1773); and 


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1 ‘‘(II) is a member of a household 

2 that owes unpaid school meal fees. 

3 ‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

4 The term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means 

5 outstanding fees owed by a household to a 

6 local educational agency for lunch provided 

7 under this Act or breakfast provided under 

8 section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 

9 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 

10 ‘‘(B) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIB11 ITED.—A local educational agency or school 

12 food authority may not, based on the status of 

13 a covered child as a covered child— 

14 ‘‘(i) physically segregate the covered 

15 child; 

16 ‘‘(ii) overtly identify the covered 

17 child— 

18 ‘‘(I) through the use of special 

19 tokens or tickets; or 

20 ‘‘(II) by an announcement or a 

21 published list of names; or 

22 ‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize the cov23 ered child by any other means. 

24 ‘‘(C) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION BY

25 LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any covVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jul 26, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4602.IS S4602

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1 ered child who is a member of a household that 

2 has unpaid school meal fees for 1 consecutive 

3 week of meals or more, a local educational 

4 agency shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify the 

6 covered child for free meals under para7 graph (4) or (5); or 

8 ‘‘(ii) in a case where the local edu9 cational agency is not able to directly cer10 tify the covered child under paragraph (4) 

11 or (5), provide to the household of the cov12 ered child— 

13 ‘‘(I) a household application and 

14 applicable descriptive material; and 

15 ‘‘(II) written and oral commu16 nications to encourage submission of 

17 the application. 

18 ‘‘(D) COLLECTION OF UNPAID SCHOOL

19 MEAL FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid 

20 school meal fees from a household, a local edu21 cational agency or school food authority may 

22 not— 

23 ‘‘(i) except as described in subpara24 graph (E), direct any communication re25 garding unpaid school meal fees to a covVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jul 26, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4602.IS S4602

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1 ered child who is a member of the house2 hold; 

3 ‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportuni4 ties (including grades and participation in 

5 extracurricular activities or local edu6 cational agency programs or services) 

7 from, or otherwise stigmatize, a covered 

8 child due to the status of the covered child 

9 as a covered child; or 

10 ‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as defined 

11 in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 

12 Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)). 

13 ‘‘(E) LETTERS.—A school food authority 

14 may require that a covered child deliver a 

15 sealed letter addressed to a parent or guardian 

16 of the covered child that contains a communica17 tion relating to unpaid school meal fees, subject 

18 to the condition that the letter shall not be dis19 tributed to the covered child in a manner that 

20 stigmatizes the covered child. 

21 ‘‘(F) ELIMINATING STIGMA IN MEAL SERV22 ICE.—In providing a meal to a covered child, a 

23 local educational agency or school food author24 ity may not, based on the status of the covered 

25 child as a covered child, dispose of or take away 


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1 from the covered child any food that has al2 ready been served to the covered child.’’. 

Æ 


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