II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 949 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to transition the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the supplemental nutrition assistance program, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2023 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. 

FETTERMAN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. SCHUMER) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to transition 

the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the supplemental 

nutrition assistance program, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Puerto Rico Nutrition 

5 Assistance Fairness Act of 2023’’. 


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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 (r) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 

6 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, and 

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

8 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Hawaii’’. 

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 SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF PLAN OF OPERATION; TECHNICAL 

23 ASSISTANCE; DETERMINATION AND CERTIFI24 CATION BY SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 

25 (a) SUBMISSION OF PLAN OF OPERATION.—On des26 ignating an agency of the kind described in section 3(s)(1) 


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1 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 

2 2012(s)(1)), the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall have 

3 60 days to submit to the Secretary of Agriculture (in this 

4 Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) its plan of operation, 

5 including a plan to transition to the supplemental nutri6 tion assistance program under section 4(a) of such Act 

7 (7 U.S.C. 2013(a)) as a request to participate in the sup8 plemental nutrition assistance program under the Food 

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

10 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Within the 60-day pe11 riod specified in subsection (a) and upon request from the 

12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Secretary shall provide 

13 appropriate training and technical assistance to enable the 

14 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to formulate a plan of oper15 ation described in subsection (a). 

16 (c) DETERMINATION BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRI17 CULTURE.—Not later than 180 days after receiving a plan 

18 of operation described in subsection (a), the Secretary 

19 shall approve if such plan satisfies the requirements for 

20 a supplemental nutrition assistance program State plan 

21 in accordance with subsections (d) and (e) of section 11 

22 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020). 

23 If the Secretary does not approve such plan, the Secretary 

24 shall provide, not later than 30 days after disapproval, a 


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1 statement that specifies each of the requirements that 

2 were not satisfied by such plan. 

3 (d) CERTIFICATION BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRI4 CULTURE.—If the Secretary approves the plan submitted 

5 by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico under subsection 

6 (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress, not later 

7 than 60 days thereafter, a certification that the Common8 wealth of Puerto Rico qualifies to participate in the sup9 plemental nutrition assistance program as a State as de10 fined in section 3(r) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 

11 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(r)). 

12 SEC. 4. TRANSITION FROM THE CONSOLIDATED BLOCK 

13 GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO. 

14 (a) COVERED PERIOD.—The Secretary may continue 

15 to implement the then most recent approved consolidated 

16 block grant specified in section 19(b)(1)(A) of the Food 

17 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028(b)(1)(A)) for 

18 a period ending no later than 5 years after the effective 

19 date of the amendments made by this Act, or on the date 

20 the Secretary determines that the Commonwealth of Puer21 to Rico no longer needs to operate the consolidated block 

22 grant to complete the transition described in section 3(a), 

23 whichever occurs first. 

24 (b) REPORT.—For each year a plan is continued 

25 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the 


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1 Congress an annual report on the operation of such plan. 

2 The Secretary shall include in such report information re3 lated to increases in funding that are required to accom4 modate the transition of the Commonwealth of Puerto 

5 Rico from the receipt of block grant payments to the im6 plementation of supplemental nutrition assistance pro7 gram. 

8 SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO 

9 AND AMERICAN SAMOA. 

10 Section 19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 

11 (7 U.S.C. 2028) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)— 

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

14 the end of the period described in section 4(a) 

15 of the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fair16 ness Act of 2023,’’ after ‘‘(A)’’, 

17 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

19 (I) in clause (i) by striking 

20 ‘‘and’’ at the end, and 

21 (II) in clause (ii)— 

22 (aa) by inserting ‘‘, until the 

23 end of the period described in 

24 section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico 


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1 Nutrition Assistance Fairness 

2 Act of 2023’’ after ‘‘thereafter’’, 

3 (bb) by striking the period 

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

5 and 

6 (cc) by adding at the end 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(iii) subject to the availability of ap9 propriations under section 18(a), for each 

10 fiscal year beginning after the end of the 

11 period described in section 4(a) of the 

12 Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness 

13 Act of 2023, 0.4 percent of the aggregate 

14 amount specified in clause (i) and adjusted 

15 under clause (ii), as further adjusted by 

16 the percentage by which the thrifty food 

17 plan has been adjusted under section 

18 3(u)(4) between June 30 of the penul19 timate fiscal year preceding such effective 

20 date and June 30 of the fiscal year for 

21 which the adjustment is made under this 

22 clause.’’, 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i) by insert24 ing ‘‘until the end of the period described 

25 in section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico NutriVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S949.IS S949

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1 tion Assistance Fairness Act of 2023’’ 

2 after ‘‘thereafter’’, and 

3 (iii) in subparagraph (C)— 

4 (I) by striking ‘‘For’’ and insert5 ing the following: 

6 ‘‘(i) For’’, 

7 (II) by inserting ‘‘until the end of 

8 the period described in section 4(a) of 

9 the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance 

10 Fairness Act of 2023’’ after ‘‘there11 after’’, and 

12 (III) by adding at the end, the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(ii) For each fiscal year beginning 

15 after the end of the period described in 

16 section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition 

17 Assistance Fairness Act of 2023, the Sec18 retary shall use 100 percent of the funds 

19 made available under subparagraph (A) for 

20 payment to American Samoa to pay 100 

21 percent of the expenditures by American 

22 Samoa for a nutrition assistance program 

23 extended under section 601(c) of Public 

24 Law 96–597 (48 U.S.C. 1469d(c)).’’, and 


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1 (C) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘year,’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘year, until the end of the period 

3 described in section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico 

4 Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act of 2023, 

5 and’’ after ‘‘year’’, and 

6 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by inserting ‘‘until 

7 the end of the period described in section 4(a) of the 

8 Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act of 

9 2023’’ after ‘‘year’’ the first place it appears. 

10 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

12 this Act such sums as may be necessary until the end of 

13 the period described in section 4(a). 

14 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

16 (b), this Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

17 of this Act. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE OF AMENDMENTS.—The 

19 amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 

20 1 of the 1st fiscal year that begins 1 year after the Sec21 retary submits to Congress the certification described in 

22 section 3(d). 

Æ 


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