I 

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. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BOWMAN, 

Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, 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. SA ́NCHEZ, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, 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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT. 

5 (a) MANDATORY CERTIFICATION.—Section 9(b)(5) of 

6 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended— 

8 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘DISCRE9 TIONARY’’ and inserting ‘‘MANDATORY’’; 

10 (2) by striking ‘‘any local’’ and inserting ‘‘a 

11 local’’; and 

12 (3) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 

13 (b) RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT.—Section 

14 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School 

15 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 

19 (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub20 clauses (I) and (II); and 

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

22 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu23 cational agency shall revise a previously 

24 submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi25 bility approval of a child for free or re26 duced price meals for the period that beVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:06 Oct 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9878.IH H9878

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1 gins on the first day of the current school 

2 year. 

3 ‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this 

4 subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means 

5 any documentation provided by a school 

6 food authority to a State agency in order 

7 to receive reimbursement for the cost of a 

8 meal served to a child by such school food 

9 authority.’’. 

10 (c) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID

11 SCHOOL MEAL FEES.—Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard 

12 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 1758(b)(10)) is amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(10) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UN15 PAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

16 ‘‘(A) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIBITED.—A 

17 local educational agency or school food authority 

18 may not, based on the status of a covered child as 

19 a covered child— 

20 ‘‘(i) physically segregate such covered 

21 child; 

22 ‘‘(ii) overtly identify such covered child— 

23 ‘‘(I) through the use of special tokens 

24 or tickets; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) by an announcement or a pub2 lished list of names; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize such covered 

4 child by any other means. 

5 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION BY LOCAL

6 EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any covered child who 

7 is a member of a household that owes a week or 

8 more of unpaid school meal fees, a local educational 

9 agency shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify such cov11 ered child for free meals under paragraph (4) 

12 or (5); or 

13 ‘‘(ii) in a case where the local educational 

14 agency is not able to directly certify such cov15 ered child under paragraph (4) or (5), provide 

16 to the household of such covered child— 

17 ‘‘(I) a household application and ap18 plicable descriptive material; and 

19 ‘‘(II) written and oral communications 

20 to encourage submission of the application. 

21 ‘‘(C) COLLECTION OF UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL

22 FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid school meal 

23 fees from a household, a local educational agency or 

24 school food authority may not— 


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1 ‘‘(i) except as described in subparagraph 

2 (D), direct any communication regarding un3 paid school meal fees to a covered child who is 

4 a member of such household; 

5 ‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportunities 

6 (including grades and participation in extra7 curricular activities or local educational agency 

8 programs or services) from, or otherwise stig9 matize, a covered child due to the status of the 

10 covered child as a covered child; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as such term is 

12 defined in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 

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

14 ‘‘(D) LETTERS.—A school food authority may 

15 require that a covered child deliver a sealed letter 

16 addressed to a parent or guardian of the covered 

17 child that contains a communication relating to un18 paid school meal fees, subject to the condition that 

19 the letter shall not be distributed to the covered 

20 child in a manner that stigmatizes the covered child. 

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

23 educational agency or school food authority may not, 

24 based on the status of the covered child as a covered 

25 child, dispose of or take away from the covered child 


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1 any food that has already been served to such cov2 ered child. 

3 ‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(i) COVERED CHILD.—The term ‘covered 

5 child’ means a child who— 

6 ‘‘(I) is— 

7 ‘‘(aa) enrolled in a school that 

8 participates in the school lunch pro9 gram under this Act or the school 

10 breakfast program under section 4 of 

11 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

12 U.S.C. 1773); and 

13 ‘‘(bb) is a member of a household 

14 that owes unpaid school meal fees; or 

15 ‘‘(II) is eligible for a free or reduced 

16 price lunch under this section. 

17 ‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.—The 

18 term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means out19 standing fees owed by a household to a local 

20 educational agency for lunches under this Act 

21 or breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nu22 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).’’. 

Æ 


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