II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5240 

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

direct certification under the school lunch program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. KING, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. 

SMITH, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) 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 enhance direct certification 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Caregivers, Access, and 

5 Responsible Expansion for Kids Act of 2024’’ or the 

6 ‘‘CARE for Kids Act of 2024’’. 

7 SEC. 2. ENHANCING DIRECT CERTIFICATION. 

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

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


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1 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

2 by inserting ‘‘(including any school operated by the 

3 Bureau of Indian Education)’’ before ‘‘may certify’’; 

4 (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting a closing 

5 parenthesis before the semicolon at the end; and 

6 (3) in subparagraph (E)— 

7 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

8 end; 

9 (B) in clause (ii)— 

10 (i) by striking ‘‘who’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘whom’’; and 

12 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

13 and inserting a semicolon; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(iii) a child whose placement with a care16 giver was carried out with the involvement of 

17 an agency that administers a State plan under 

18 part B or E of title IV of the Social Security 

19 Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or a tribal child 

20 welfare agency, without regard to whether the 

21 agency is responsible for the care and place22 ment of the child; 

23 ‘‘(iv) a child for whom an adoption assist24 ance payment is made under section 473(a) of 

25 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) or 


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1 under a similar State-funded or State-operated 

2 program, as determined by the Secretary; 

3 ‘‘(v) a child for whom a kinship guardian4 ship assistance payment is made under section 

5 473(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 673(d)) or under a similar State-funded or 

7 State-operated program, as determined by the 

8 Secretary, without regard to whether the child 

9 was previously in foster care; or 

10 ‘‘(vi) a child of a family that— 

11 ‘‘(I) lives in housing dedicated to low12 income families with a caregiver who is a 

13 grandparent or another older person that 

14 cares for the child full-time; or 

15 ‘‘(II) receives housing or housing as16 sistance under the Native American Hous17 ing Assistance and Self-Determination Act 

18 of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.).’’. 

19 SEC. 3. EXTENDED ELIGIBILITY. 

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

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

22 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub23 paragraph (D); 

24 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(C) ELIGIBILITY OF TRANSFERRED CHIL2 DREN.— 

3 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF COVERED

4 CHILD.—In this subparagraph, the term 

5 ‘covered child’ means a child that— 

6 ‘‘(I) has been determined eligible 

7 for free or reduced price meals under 

8 this Act by a local educational agency 

9 (referred to in this subparagraph as 

10 the ‘original local educational agen11 cy’); and 

12 ‘‘(II) transfers to another school 

13 that is under the jurisdiction of a dif14 ferent local educational agency (re15 ferred to in this subparagraph as the 

16 ‘new local educational agency’). 

17 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBILITY.—An eligibility de18 termination made by an original local edu19 cational agency with respect to a covered 

20 child shall be transferred to, and honored 

21 by, the new local educational agency, in22 cluding the period for which that deter23 mination was authorized, subject to an ex24 tension under clause (iii). 


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1 ‘‘(iii) EXTENSION OF DURATION.—A 

2 new local educational agency shall honor 

3 the eligibility determination for a covered 

4 child under clause (ii) for a period that is 

5 1 year longer than the period for which 

6 that determination was authorized by the 

7 original local educational agency if the cov8 ered child began living with a caregiver— 

9 ‘‘(I) during the 12-month period 

10 preceding the date on which the cov11 ered child is enrolled in a school under 

12 the jurisdiction of a new local edu13 cational agency; and 

14 ‘‘(II) who is a grandparent or 

15 other relative and— 

16 ‘‘(aa) has legal authority to 

17 secure services for the child 

18 through an educational or 

19 healthcare consent affidavit, 

20 power of attorney, or other legal 

21 documentation; or 

22 ‘‘(bb) has legal custody of 

23 the child or has commenced the 

24 process of seeking legal custody 


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1 of the child in a court of law.’’; 

2 and 

3 (3) in subparagraph (D) (as so redesignated)— 

4 (A) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as 

5 subclauses (I) and (II), respectively, and in6 denting appropriately; 

7 (B) in the matter preceding subclause (I) 

8 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘Except as’’ 

9 and all that follows through ‘‘(3)(H)(ii)’’ and 

10 inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as other12 wise specified in clause (ii), subparagraph 

13 (C), subparagraphs (E) and (H)(ii) of 

14 paragraph (3)’’; and 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(ii) EXTENSION FOR CERTAIN CHIL17 DREN.—A school food authority shall ex18 tend the eligibility determination made by 

19 a local educational agency with respect to 

20 a child for a period that is 1 year longer 

21 than the period for which that determina22 tion was authorized by the local edu23 cational agency, if the child began living 

24 with a caregiver— 


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1 ‘‘(I) during the 12-month period 

2 preceding the date on which the cov3 ered child is enrolled in the new 

4 school; and 

5 ‘‘(II) who is a grandparent or 

6 other relative and— 

7 ‘‘(aa) has legal authority to 

8 secure services for the child 

9 through an educational or 

10 healthcare consent affidavit, 

11 power of attorney, or other legal 

12 documentation; or 

13 ‘‘(bb) has legal custody of 

14 the child or has commenced the 

15 process of seeking legal custody 

16 of the child in a court of law.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. EXPANDING AUTOMATIC ELIGIBILITY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(b)(12)(A) of the Rich19 ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 1758(b)(12)(A)) is amended— 

21 (1) by conforming the margins of clauses (iv) 

22 through (vii) to the margin of clause (iii); and 

23 (2) in clause (vii)— 

24 (A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

25 the end; 


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1 (B) in subclause (II)— 

2 (i) by striking ‘‘who’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘whom’’; and 

4 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

5 and inserting a semicolon; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(III) a child whose placement with a 

8 caregiver was carried out with the involve9 ment of an agency that administers a 

10 State plan under part B or E of title IV 

11 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 

12 et seq.) or a tribal child welfare agency, 

13 without regard to whether the agency is re14 sponsible for the care and placement of the 

15 child; 

16 ‘‘(IV) a child for whom an adoption 

17 assistance payment is made under section 

18 473(a) of the Social Security Act (42 

19 U.S.C. 673(a)) or under a similar State20 funded or State-operated program, as de21 termined by the Secretary; 

22 ‘‘(V) a child for whom a kinship 

23 guardianship assistance payment is made 

24 under section 473(d) of the Social Security 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 673(d)) or under a similar 


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1 State-funded or State-operated program, 

2 as determined by the Secretary, without 

3 regard to whether the child was previously 

4 in foster care; or 

5 ‘‘(VI) a child of a family that— 

6 ‘‘(aa) lives in housing dedicated 

7 to low-income families with a care8 giver who is a grandparent or another 

9 older person that cares for the child 

10 full-time; or 

11 ‘‘(bb) receives housing or housing 

12 assistance under the Native American 

13 Housing Assistance and Self-Deter14 mination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 

15 4101 et seq.).’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 9(d)(2) of 

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

18 U.S.C. 1758(d)(2)) is amended— 

19 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘(iv) or 

20 (v)’’ and inserting ‘‘(ii), (iii), (iv), (v), or (vii)’’; 

21 (2) in subparagraph (E), by adding ‘‘or’’ at the 

22 end after the semicolon; 

23 (3) by striking subparagraph (F); and 


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1 (4) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as sub2 paragraph (F) and conforming the margin of sub3 paragraph (F) (as so redesignated) appropriately. 

4 SEC. 5. MEDICAID DIRECT CERTIFICATION. 

5 Section 9(b)(15)(A)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na6 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(15)(A)(i)) is 

7 amended— 

8 (1) in subclause (I)— 

9 (A) in item (bb)— 

10 (i) by striking ‘‘9902(2)’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘9902(2))’’; and 

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘(bb) who is’’ and in13 serting the following: 

14 ‘‘(BB) is’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘(I)(aa) who is’’ and in16 serting the following: 

17 ‘‘(aa)(AA) is’’; 

18 (2) in subclause (II)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘regulations) with a child 

20 described in subclause (I)’’ and inserting ‘‘regu21 lations)) with a child described in item (aa)’’; 

22 and 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘(II) who is’’ and inserting 

24 the following: 

25 ‘‘(bb) is’’; 


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1 (3) in the matter preceding item (aa)(AA) (as 

2 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘The term ‘eligible 

3 child’ means a child’’ and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘el5 igible child’ means a child who’’; and 

6 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(II) INCLUSION.—The term ‘eli8 gible child’ includes a child who re9 ceives medical assistance through the 

10 Medicaid program under— 

11 ‘‘(aa) subclause (I) of sec12 tion 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) of the So13 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 1396a(a)(10)(A)(i)) on the basis 

15 of receiving aid or assistance 

16 under the State plan approved 

17 under part E of title IV of that 

18 Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) or by 

19 reason of section 473(b) of that 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 673(b)); or 

21 ‘‘(bb) subclause (II) of sec22 tion 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) of that 

23 Act (42 U.S.C. 

24 1396a(a)(10)(A)(i)) on the basis 


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1 of receiving supplemental security 

2 income benefits.’’. 

Æ 


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