I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4280 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide that Puerto 

Rico may be treated in the same manner as the several States for 

the purpose of carrying out the supplemental nutrition assistance program under such Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2012 

Mr. PIERLUISI (for himself, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. FARR, Mr. BACA, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. BORDALLO, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide 

that Puerto Rico may be treated in the same manner 

as the several States for the purpose of carrying out 

the supplemental nutrition assistance program under 

such Act. 

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 ‘‘Puerto Rico Supple5 mental Nutrition Assistance Program Restoration Act of 

6 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOOD AND NUTRITION ACT 

2 OF 2008. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Food and Nutri4 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (s) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 

6 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, and 

7 (2) in subsection (u)(3) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 

8 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 

9 (b) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the Food 

10 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 

12 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, 

13 (2) in subsection (c)(1) by striking ‘‘and 

14 Guam’’ and inserting ‘‘Guam, and Puerto Rico,’’, 

15 and 

16 (3) in subsection (e)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting 

18 ‘‘Puerto Rico,’’ after ‘‘Hawaii,’’ each place it 

19 appears, and 

20 (B) in paragraph (6)(B) by inserting 

21 ‘‘Puerto Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 

22 (c) CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANTS.—Section 19 of 

23 the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028) is 

24 amended— 

25 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting ‘‘until 

2 the effective date of the amendments made by 

3 the Puerto Rico Supplemental Nutrition Assist4 ance Program Restoration Act of 2012,’’ after 

5 ‘‘(A)’’, 

6 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

7 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

8 (I) in clause (i) by striking 

9 ‘‘and’’ at the end, and 

10 (II) in clause (ii)— 

11 (aa) by inserting ‘‘ending 

12 before the effective date of the 

13 amendments made by the Puerto 

14 Rico Supplemental Nutrition As15 sistance Program Restoration 

16 Act of 2012’’ after ‘‘thereafter’’, 

17 (bb) by striking the period 

18 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 

19 and 

20 (cc) by adding at the end 

21 the following: 

22 ‘‘(iii) subject to the availability of ap23 propriations under section 18(a), for each 

24 fiscal year beginning on or after the effec25 tive date of the amendments made by the 


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1 Puerto Rico Supplemental Nutrition As2 sistance Program Restoration Act of 2012, 

3 0.4 percent of the aggregate amount speci4 fied in clause (i) and adjusted under clause 

5 (ii), as further adjusted by the percentage 

6 by which the thrifty food plan has been ad7 justed under section 3(u)(4) between June 

8 30 of the penultimate fiscal year preceding 

9 such effective date and June 30 of the fis10 cal year for which the adjustment is made 

11 under this clause.’’, 

12 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i) by insert13 ing ‘‘ending before the effective date of the 

14 amendments made by the Puerto Rico 

15 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro16 gram Restoration Act of 2012’’ after 

17 ‘‘thereafter’’, and 

18 (iii) in subparagraph (C)— 

19 (I) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ before 

20 ‘‘For’’, 

21 (II) by inserting ‘‘ending before 

22 the effective date of the amendments 

23 made by the Puerto Rico Supple24 mental Nutrition Assistance Program 


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1 Restoration Act of 2012’’ after 

2 ‘‘thereafter’’, and 

3 (III) by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(ii) For each fiscal year beginning on or 

6 after the effective date of the amendments 

7 made by the Puerto Rico Supplemental Nutri8 tion Assistance Program Restoration Act of 

9 2012, the Secretary shall use 100 percent of 

10 the funds made available under subparagraph 

11 (A) for payment to American Samoa to pay 100 

12 percent of the expenditures by American Samoa 

13 for a nutrition assistance program extended 

14 under section 601(c) of Public Law 96–597 (48 

15 U.S.C. 1469d(c)).’’, and 

16 (C) in paragraph (3) by inserting ‘‘ending 

17 before the effective date of the amendments 

18 made by the Puerto Rico Supplemental Nutri19 tion Assistance Program Restoration Act of 

20 2012’’ after ‘‘year’’, and 

21 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by inserting ‘‘ending 

22 before the effective date of the amendments made by 

23 the Puerto Rico Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

24 Program Restoration Act of 2012’’ after ‘‘year’’ the 

25 first place it appears. 


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1 SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF PLAN; APPROVAL OF RETAIL FOOD 

2 STORES; CERTIFICATION BY SECRETARY OF 

3 AGRICULTURE. 

4 (a) SUBMISSION OF PLAN BY PUERTO RICO.— 

5 (1) SUBMISSION AND REVIEW OF PLAN OF OP6 ERATION.—If an agency of the kind described in 

7 section 3(t)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 

8 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(t)(1)) is designated by Puerto 

9 Rico and submits to the Secretary of Agriculture 

10 (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Sec11 retary) a request to participate in the supplemental 

12 nutrition program under such Act and a plan of op13 eration of the kind described in section 11 of such 

14 Act, the Secretary shall determine whether Puerto 

15 Rico and such agency satisfy the requirements that 

16 would apply under such Act for approval of such 

17 plan if Puerto Rico were 1 of the several States. 

18 (2) DETERMINATION BY SECRETARY.—The 

19 Secretary shall approve such plan if Puerto Rico and 

20 such agency satisfy such requirements. If the Sec21 retary does not approve such plan, the Secretary 

22 shall provide a statement that specifies each of such 

23 requirements that is not satisfied by such plan. 

24 (b) APPROVAL OF RETAIL FOOD STORES IN PUERTO

25 RICO.—If the Secretary approves the plan of operation 

26 submitted under subsection (a), then the Secretary shall 


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1 accept from retail food stores located in Puerto Rico appli2 cations of the kind described in section 9 of the Food and 

3 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2018) for approval to 

4 participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance pro5 gram proposed in such plan. 

6 (c) SUBMISSION OF CERTIFICATION TO THE CON7 GRESS.—If the Secretary— 

8 (1) approves the plan of operation submitted 

9 under subsection (a), and 

10 (2) approves under subsection (b) the applica11 tions of a number of retail food stores located in 

12 Puerto Rico requesting to participate in the supple13 mental nutrition assistance program that would be 

14 sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Food 

15 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) 

16 if Puerto Rico were 1 of the several States request17 ing to participate in the supplemental nutrition as18 sistance program under such Act, 

19 then the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a certifi20 cation that Puerto Rico qualifies to participate in such 

21 program as if Puerto Rico were a State as defined in sec22 tion 3(s) of such Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

2 (a) GENERAL EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as pro3 vided in subsection (b), this Act shall take effect on the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act. 

5 (b) SPECIAL EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments 

6 made by section 2 shall take effect on October 1 of the 

7 1st fiscal year that begins more than 1 year after the Sec8 retary of Agriculture submits to the Congress the certifi9 cation described in section 3(c). 

Æ 


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