I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7142 

To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to establish a competitive grant 

program to enable States to purchase, customize, or repair vehicles 

with hot and cold food storage for delivering meals to older individuals 

through the Congregate Nutrition Program or the Home-Delivered Nutrition Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 8, 2020 

Mr. VELA (for himself, Mr. KATKO, and Mrs. MCBATH) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to establish 

a competitive grant program to enable States to purchase, customize, or repair vehicles with hot and cold 

food storage for delivering meals to older individuals 

through the Congregate Nutrition Program or the HomeDelivered Nutrition 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 ‘‘Helping Our Most El5 derly secure Meals Act’’ or the ‘‘HOME Meals Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR VEHICLES WITH HOT AND COLD FOOD 

2 STORAGE FOR MEAL DELIVERY TO OLDER IN3 DIVIDUALS. 

4 Subpart 3 of part C of title III of the Older Ameri5 cans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3030g–21 et seq.) is amend6 ed by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 340. GRANTS FOR VEHICLES WITH HOT AND COLD 

8 FOOD STORAGE FOR MEAL DELIVERY. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary shall 

10 award grants in accordance with subsection (c) on a com11 petitive basis to States receiving a grant under section 331 

12 or 336 to enable such States to provide direct funds to 

13 area agencies on aging and local nutrition service pro14 viders to purchase, customize, or repair vehicles meeting 

15 the requirement under subsection (b) to be used in deliv16 ering meals to older individuals through an existing and 

17 eligible nutrition project supported under either such sec18 tion. 

19 ‘‘(b) VEHICLE REQUIREMENT.—The requirement 

20 under this subsection is that the vehicle has the capability 

21 to safely store hot food and cold food, as determined by 

22 the Assistant Secretary, while delivering meals. 

23 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) APPLICATIONS.— 

25 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving a 

26 grant under section 331 or 336 that seeks a 


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1 grant under this section shall submit an appli2 cation to the Assistant Secretary at such time, 

3 in such manner, and containing such informa4 tion as the Assistant Secretary may reasonably 

5 require, including the demonstrations described 

6 in subparagraph (B). 

7 ‘‘(B) DEMONSTRATIONS.—An application 

8 under this paragraph shall contain a dem9 onstration— 

10 ‘‘(i) of how the State submitting the 

11 application will use the grant to allow ex12 isting and eligible nutrition projects to en13 hance the delivery of services to older indi14 viduals with the greatest economic need 

15 and older individuals with the greatest so16 cial need; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) that the nutrition projects uti18 lizing the funds are in effect within the 

19 State, on the date on which the State sub20 mits the application, to use vehicles meet21 ing the requirement under subsection (b) 

22 to provide nutrition services under section 

23 331 or 336. 

24 ‘‘(2) SELECTION.—The Assistant Secretary, in 

25 selecting States meeting the requirements under 


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1 paragraph (1) to receive a grant under this section, 

2 shall give preference to— 

3 ‘‘(A) States with a high percentage of indi4 viduals who are 60 years of age or older; and 

5 ‘‘(B) States with a high rate of individuals 

6 at or below the poverty line. 

7 ‘‘(d) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under this 

8 section shall be for an amount that is equal to or less than 

9 $3,000,000. 

10 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 is authorized to be appropriated $60,000,000 for each of 

12 fiscal years 2020 through 2024 to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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