II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1098

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to improve food stamp informational

activities in those States with the greatest rate of hunger.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 26, 2001

Mr. SMITH of Oregon (for himself, and Mr. BINGAMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to improve food

stamp informational activities in those States with the

greatest rate of hunger.

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 ‘‘State Hunger Assist5 ance in Response to Emergency Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the Secretary of Agriculture conducts an

2 annual report that measures food security and hun3 ger by State; and

4 (2) many households that are eligible to receive

5 food stamps under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7

6 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) do not know that the house7 holds are eligible to receive food stamps.

8 SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR FOOD STAMP INFORMATIONAL AC9 TIVITIES BY STATES WITH GREATEST RATE

10 OF HUNGER.

11 Section 16 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C.

12 2025) is amended—

13 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘subsection

14 (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (k) and (l)’’; and

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

16 ‘‘(l) FUNDING FOR FOOD STAMP INFORMATIONAL

17 ACTIVITIES BY STATES WITH GREATEST RATE OF HUN18 GER.—

19 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION OF STATES.—

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal

21 years 2001 through 2005, the Secretary—

22 ‘‘(i) shall designate the 10 States that

23 have the greatest rate of hunger, as deter24 mined on the basis of the most recent re25 port that measures food security and hun-
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1 ger by State prepared by the Secretary for

2 which data are available; and

3 ‘‘(ii) may designate not more than 5

4 additional States if the Secretary deter5 mines, on the basis of a proposal submitted

6 by a State, that the State will carry out a

7 demonstration project to carry out food

8 stamp informational activities under this

9 paragraph that uses innovative approaches

10 that have national significance.

11 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION OF STATES.—As soon

12 as practicable after designation of a State

13 under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall no14 tify the State agency of the State that the State

15 agency is eligible to receive payments for ad16 ministrative costs incurred in carrying out food

17 stamp informational activities in accordance

18 with paragraph (2).

19 ‘‘(C) ACCEPTANCE BY STATES.—If a State

20 agency of a State notified under subparagraph

21 (B) elects to carry out food stamp informational

22 activities in exchange for payments under para23 graph (2), not later than 90 days after the date

24 of notification by the Secretary, the State agen25 cy shall—
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1 ‘‘(i) notify the Secretary that the

2 State agency will carry out food stamp in3 formational activities in exchange for the

4 payments; and

5 ‘‘(ii) provide to the Secretary a sum6 mary describing the manner in which—

7 ‘‘(I) the payments will be used;

8 ‘‘(II) the outcomes of the activi9 ties will be measured; and

10 ‘‘(III) any other eligibility cri11 teria established by the Secretary for

12 payments under paragraph (2) will be

13 met.

14 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara16 graph (B), if the State agency of a State elects

17 to carry out food stamp informational activities

18 under paragraph (1), subject to subparagraphs

19 (B) through (E), the Secretary shall pay the

20 State agency of the State 100 percent of the

21 administrative costs incurred by the State agen22 cy in carrying out food stamp informational ac23 tivities, including activities under section

24 11(e)(1)(A) and outreach activities.
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1 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY.—A State agency shall

2 be eligible for payments under subparagraph

3 (A) for only 1 period of 3 fiscal years.

4 ‘‘(C) STATE ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The

5 amount of administrative costs for which the

6 State agency of a State may receive payments

7 for a fiscal year under subparagraph (A) shall

8 not exceed such amount as the Secretary deter9 mines is reasonable, as determined on the basis

10 of—

11 ‘‘(i) the population of the State;

12 ‘‘(ii) the rate of hunger in the State;

13 ‘‘(iii) the number of households that

14 are eligible to participate in the food stamp

15 program but are not participating in the

16 program; and

17 ‘‘(iv) other factors determined by the

18 Secretary.

19 ‘‘(D) MAXIMUM PAYMENT.—The amount

20 of payments made to the State agency of a

21 State for a fiscal year under subparagraph (A)

22 shall not exceed $1,000,000.

23 ‘‘(E) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—The ex24 penditure of funds by the State agency of a

25 State for the maintenance of food stamp infor-
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1 mational activities described in subparagraph

2 (A) shall not be diminished as a result of pay3 ments made available under this paragraph.

4 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the

5 end of the third fiscal year for which the State agen6 cy of a State receives payments under paragraph

7 (2), the State agency shall submit to the Secretary

8 a brief report that measures the outcomes of food

9 stamp informational activities described in para10 graph (2) carried out by the State agency during the

11 preceding 3 fiscal years.’’.

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