II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3171 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy eating and 

physical activity among children. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 31, 2023 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy 

eating and physical activity among children. 

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 ‘‘Reducing Obesity in 

5 Youth Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are to— 

8 (1) establish a program that will enhance the 

9 training and knowledge of early care and education 

10 providers and influence practices, policies, and enviVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Nov 01, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3171.IS S3171

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1 ronments in early care and education settings to 

2 support healthy eating and physical activity for chil3 dren ages birth through 5, including by addressing 

4 the growing threat of food insecurity; 

5 (2) provide support to States on ways to link 

6 early care and education programs to nutrition sup7 ports; 

8 (3) monitor progress of healthy eating and 

9 physical activity promotion in early care and edu10 cation settings; and 

11 (4) identify emerging, and expand existing, ap12 proaches to engaging families and parents of chil13 dren ages birth to 5 in healthy eating and physical 

14 activity. 

15 SEC. 3. HEALTHY KIDS PROGRAM. 

16 Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 241 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘PART W—HEALTHY KIDS PROGRAM 

20 ‘‘SEC. 399OO. GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE HEALTHY EAT21 ING AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND TO AD22 DRESS FOOD INSECURITY AMONG CHILDREN. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

24 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre25 vention and in coordination with the Assistant Secretary 


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1 for the Administration for Children and Families, shall 

2 award 5-year competitive grants to one or more eligible 

3 entities to improve healthy eating and physical activity 

4 and to address food insecurity among children ages birth 

5 through 5 years in early care and education settings. 

6 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

7 under subsection (a), an entity shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) be— 

9 ‘‘(A) a nonprofit organization with exper10 tise in early childhood health and childhood obe11 sity prevention; 

12 ‘‘(B) an institution of higher education or 

13 research center that employs faculty with rel14 evant expertise and has expertise in training 

15 early care and education providers; or 

16 ‘‘(C) a consortium of entities described in 

17 subparagraphs (A) and (B) that submit a single 

18 application to carry out activities under the 

19 grant jointly; and 

20 ‘‘(2) submit to the Director an application at 

21 such time, in such manner, and containing such in22 formation as the Director may require. 

23 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An entity shall use 

25 amounts received under a grant under this section to 


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1 work directly with implementing partners, which 

2 may include States, territories, Indian Tribes, mu3 nicipalities, and nonprofit organizations, to— 

4 ‘‘(A) create sustainable programs to train 

5 early care and education providers through di6 rect coaching and peer-learning, access to qual7 ity technical assistance, and professional devel8 opment opportunities that are focused on 

9 healthy eating, physical activity, addressing 

10 food insecurity, and other topics that support 

11 children’s healthy development, as determined 

12 by the Director; 

13 ‘‘(B) build State capacity through training, 

14 technical assistance, and resources to integrate 

15 the promotion of healthy eating and physical 

16 activity into existing early care and education 

17 programs, systems, and initiatives, including 

18 linking early care and education programs to 

19 new and existing resources for nutrition sup20 ports, with a focus on promoting equity; or 

21 ‘‘(C) test innovative or evidence-informed 

22 approaches to promoting healthy habits and 

23 healthy child development in early care and 

24 education settings, which may include linking 

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1 viders, enhancing early care and education staff 

2 wellness, enhancing access to quality foods in 

3 the early care and education settings, and en4 gaging families of children ages birth to 5 years 

5 served in the early care and education programs 

6 supported by a grant under this section. 

7 ‘‘(2) IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS.—In selecting 

8 States, territories, Indian tribes, municipalities, or 

9 nonprofit organizations to be implementing partners 

10 under a grant under this section, a grantee shall en11 sure that such partners, collectively— 

12 ‘‘(A) serve populations that are racially, 

13 ethnically, socioeconomically, and geographically 

14 diverse; and 

15 ‘‘(B) represent a mix of rural and urban 

16 settings. 

17 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL INDEPENDENT EVALUATOR.— 

18 From the amounts appropriated to carry out this 

19 section, and prior to awarding any grants under 

20 paragraph (1), the Director shall enter into a con21 tract with an external entity to create a single, uni22 form process to— 

23 ‘‘(A) ensure that entities that receive 

24 grants under paragraph (1) comply with the re25 quirements of this section; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) evaluate the outcomes of the grant 

2 activities carried out by each participating enti3 ty. 

4 ‘‘(d) TRACKING STATE PROGRESS.—The Director 

5 may use amounts appropriated under subsection (f)(2) to 

6 enter into contracts with, or award grants to, institutions 

7 of higher education, nonprofit organizations, or other enti8 ties with relevant monitoring and surveillance expertise, 

9 for purposes of— 

10 ‘‘(1) tracking State progress in obesity preven11 tion policies and practices of early care and edu12 cation programs in States where grantees are 

13 present; and 

14 ‘‘(2) measuring changes in food security within 

15 exposed groups. 

16 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the com17 pletion of the grant program, the Secretary shall submit 

18 to Congress a report on the results of the programs, activi19 ties, and surveillance carried out under such grant pro20 gram, including best practices and lessons derived from 

21 the experiences of grantees with respect to reducing and 

22 preventing food insecurity and obesity and overweight 

23 among children ages birth through 5 years in the early 

24 care and education settings. 

25 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 

2 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and 

3 ‘‘(2) the term ‘early care and education’ means 

4 programs and activities that serve children ages 

5 birth through 5 years either through in-home or out6 of-home settings, including childcare programs, 

7 Head Start programs, family childcare, and pre-kin8 dergarten programs. 

9 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 

11 ‘‘(1) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 

12 through 2028; and 

13 ‘‘(2) $1,700,000 for fiscal year 2024, to be 

14 used to track State progress in obesity prevention 

15 and food security policies and practices of early care 

16 and education programs in a sentinel set of States 

17 as provided for in subsection (d).’’. 

Æ 


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