I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4221

To amend the National School Lunch Act to provide increased flexibility

relating to the use of information submitted to determine eligibility

under programs under that Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966,

to provide for the establishment of commodity letter of credit (CLOC)

demonstration programs in certain States, and to establish a program

to assist schools in offering greater quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables under the school lunch program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 14, 1994

Mr. GOODLING (for himself and Mr. FORD of Michigan) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Education and

Labor and Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the National School Lunch Act to provide increased flexibility relating to the use of information submitted to determine eligibility under programs under that

Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, to provide

for the establishment of commodity letter of credit

(CLOC) demonstration programs in certain States, and

to establish a program to assist schools in offering greater quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables under the

school lunch program.

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. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY RELATING TO USE OF

2 INFORMATION SUBMITTED TO DETERMINE

3 ELIGIBILITY UNDER PROGRAMS UNDER THE

4 NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT AND THE

5 CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF 1966.

6 Section 9(b)(5) of the National School Lunch Act (42

7 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the

8 following new sentences: ‘‘Except as provided in the next

9 sentence, a local agency responsible for administering pro10 grams under this Act or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966

11 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) shall use information submitted

12 for the purpose of receiving benefits under such programs

13 only for the purpose of determining eligibility for such

14 benefits. Such local agency may use such eligibility deter15 mination to demonstrate the eligibility for benefits under

16 other Federal, State, or local means-tested nutrition pro17 grams with comparable eligibility standards.’’.

18 SEC. 2. CLOC PROGRAMS UNDER THE NATIONAL SCHOOL

19 LUNCH ACT.

20 Section 18(b) of the National School Lunch Act (42

21 U.S.C. 1769(b)) is amended—

22 (1) in paragraph (1)—

23 (A) in the 1st sentence, by striking ‘‘, and

24 ending September 30, 1994’’; and
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1 (B) in the 2nd sentence, by striking

2 ‘‘under this subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘under

3 this paragraph’’; and

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new

5 paragraphs:

6 ‘‘(3)(A) The Secretary shall, upon the request of a

7 school district located in a State in which no commodity

8 letter of credit (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as

9 ‘CLOC’) programs exist, establish and carry out a CLOC

10 demonstration program for such school district under

11 which the Secretary provides commodity letters of credit

12 in lieu of all entitlement commodities for the school lunch

13 program of such school district.

14 ‘‘(B) The Secretary may establish and carry out not

15 more than 1 CLOC demonstration program for any State.

16 ‘‘(C) A CLOC demonstration program established

17 and carried out under this paragraph shall begin on the

18 first July 1st which occurs after the date of the enactment

19 of this paragraph.

20 ‘‘(D) The Secretary shall establish eligibility require21 ments for school districts that desire to participate in a

22 CLOC demonstration program under this paragraph.

23 ‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall establish and carry out

24 a statewide commodity letter of credit (hereafter in this

25 paragraph referred to as ‘CLOC’) demonstration program
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1 in 1 State under which the Secretary provides all school

2 districts in such State commodity letters of credit in lieu

3 of all entitlement commodities for the school lunch pro4 grams of such school districts.

5 ‘‘(B) The Secretary may establish and carry out the

6 statewide CLOC demonstration program under this para7 graph only in a State in which, on the date of the applica8 tion by such State to the Secretary to establish such pro9 gram, 80 percent or more of the school districts participat10 ing in the school lunch program under this Act have elect11 ed to participate in the statewide CLOC demonstration

12 program.

13 ‘‘(C) In carrying out the statewide CLOC demonstra14 tion program, the Secretary shall provide that—

15 ‘‘(i) all commodity letters of credit be issued to

16 all school districts in the State in lieu of entitlement

17 commodities for the school lunch program beginning

18 on the first July 1st which occurs after the date of

19 the enactment of this paragraph;

20 ‘‘(ii) child care agencies and nutrition programs

21 for the elderly in the State shall be allowed to par22 ticipate in the program; and

23 ‘‘(iii) the State agencies responsible for com24 modity distribution to child and elderly nutrition

25 programs shall administer the program.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. PROGRAM TO INCREASE OFFERINGS OF FRESH

2 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES UNDER THE NA3 TIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT.

4 Section 18 of the National School Lunch Act (42

5 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the end the follow6 ing new subsection:

7 ‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary shall establish a program be8 ginning on the first July 1st which occurs after the date

9 of the enactment of this subsection to assist schools in

10 offering greater quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables

11 to students in order to improve the overall nutritional

12 quality of meals served under the school lunch program

13 established under this Act.

14 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall establish procedures under

15 which all schools currently participating in the school

16 lunch program established under this Act may apply to

17 participate in the program.

18 ‘‘(3)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the Secretary

19 shall, for each fiscal year in which a school participates

20 in the program, provide commodity letters of credit to

21 such school in an amount equal to 10 percent of the total

22 commodity entitlement of such school under section 6 for

23 each such fiscal year to be used for the purchase of fresh

24 fruits and vegetables under the program.

25 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall, for each fiscal year de26 scribed in subparagraph (A), reduce the amount of the
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1 total commodity entitlement of such school under section

2 6 by the amount described in such subparagraph.

3 ‘‘(4) Not later than 2 years after the date of the es4 tablishment of the program, the Secretary shall report to

5 the appropriate committees of the Congress on the impact

6 of the program on participating schools, including—

7 ‘‘(A) the extent to which children at such

8 schools increased consumption of fresh fruits and

9 vegetables; and

10 ‘‘(B) the effectiveness of the program in remov11 ing desired commodities from the market place and

12 the timeliness of such removal.’’.

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