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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9878 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9878

 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
    mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma 
    associated with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 27, 2024

Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Bowman, 
 Ms. Brownley, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mrs. 
 Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Correa, Mr. Davis of 
   Illinois, Mr. Espaillat, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. 
Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. 
Khanna, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. McClellan, 
Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
   Peters, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mrs. 
 Ramirez, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. 
  Takano, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. 
    Watson Coleman, Ms. Wild, Ms. Williams of Georgia, and Mr. Amo) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
    mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma 
    associated with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``No Shame at School Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT.

    (a) Mandatory Certification.--Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. 
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by striking ``Discretionary'' and 
        inserting ``Mandatory'';
            (2) by striking ``any local'' and inserting ``a local''; 
        and
            (3) by striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall''.
    (b) 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 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``Except'' and inserting the following:
                            ``(i) In general.--Except'';
            (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 
        and (II); and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) Retroactivity.--A local educational 
                        agency shall revise a previously submitted meal 
                        claim to reflect the eligibility approval of a 
                        child for free or reduced price 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.''.
    (c) Reducing Stigma Associated With Unpaid School Meal Fees.--
Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(10)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(10) Reducing Stigma Associated With Unpaid School Meal Fees.--
            ``(A) Overt identification prohibited.--A local educational 
        agency or school food authority may not, based on the status of 
        a covered child as a covered child--
                    ``(i) physically segregate such covered child;
                    ``(ii) overtly identify such covered child--
                            ``(I) through the use of special tokens or 
                        tickets; or
                            ``(II) by an announcement or a published 
                        list of names; or
                    ``(iii) identify or stigmatize such covered child 
                by any other means.
            ``(B) Eligibility determination by local educational 
        agency.--For any covered child who is a member of a household 
        that owes a week or more of unpaid school meal fees, a local 
        educational agency shall--
                    ``(i) attempt to directly certify such covered 
                child for free meals under paragraph (4) or (5); or
                    ``(ii) in a case where the local educational agency 
                is not able to directly certify such covered child 
                under paragraph (4) or (5), provide to the household of 
                such covered child--
                            ``(I) a household application and 
                        applicable descriptive material; and
                            ``(II) written and oral communications to 
                        encourage submission of the application.
            ``(C) Collection of unpaid school meal fees.--In attempting 
        to collect unpaid school meal fees from a household, a local 
        educational agency or school food authority may not--
                    ``(i) except as described in subparagraph (D), 
                direct any communication regarding unpaid school meal 
                fees to a covered child who is a member of such 
                household;
                    ``(ii) withhold educational opportunities 
                (including grades and participation in extracurricular 
                activities or local educational agency programs or 
                services) from, or otherwise stigmatize, a covered 
                child due to the status of the covered child as a 
                covered child; or
                    ``(iii) use a debt collector (as such term is 
                defined in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 
                Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)).
            ``(D) Letters.--A school food authority may require that a 
        covered child deliver a sealed letter addressed to a parent or 
        guardian of the covered child that contains a communication 
        relating to unpaid school meal fees, subject to the condition 
        that the letter shall not be distributed to the covered child 
        in a manner that stigmatizes the covered child.
            ``(E) Eliminating stigma in meal service.--In providing a 
        meal to a covered child, a local educational agency or school 
        food authority may not, based on the status of the covered 
        child as a covered child, dispose of or take away from the 
        covered child any food that has already been served to such 
        covered child.
            ``(F) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                    ``(i) Covered child.--The term `covered child' 
                means a child who--
                            ``(I) is--
                                    ``(aa) enrolled in a school that 
                                participates in the school lunch 
                                program under this Act or the school 
                                breakfast program under section 4 of 
                                the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
                                U.S.C. 1773); and
                                    ``(bb) is a member of a household 
                                that owes unpaid school meal fees; or
                            ``(II) is eligible for a free or reduced 
                        price lunch under this section.
                    ``(ii) Unpaid school meal fees.--The term `unpaid 
                school meal fees' means outstanding fees owed by a 
                household to a local educational agency for lunches 
                under this Act or breakfasts under section 4 of the 
                Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).''.
                                 <all>
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