I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3436

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to ensure adequate access to retail

food stores by recipients of food stamps and to maintain the integrity

of the Food Stamp Program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 3, 1993

Mr. STENHOLM (for himself, Mr. DE LA GARZA, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. SMITH

of Oregon, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. BONILLA, Mrs. CLAYTON,

Mr. COMBEST, Mr. DOOLEY, Mr. EMERSON, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. KINGSTON, Ms. LAMBERT, Ms. LONG, Mr. MINGE, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. PENNY,

Mr. POMEROY, Mr. ROSE, Mr. HALL of Ohio, and Mr. BISHOP) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to ensure adequate

access to retail food stores by recipients of food stamps

and to maintain the integrity of the Food Stamp

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. FOOD STAMP ACT DEFINITIONS.

4 Effective on the date of enactment of this Act, section

5 3 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is

6 amended by—
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1 (1) amending clause (1) of subsection (k) to

2 read as follows:

3 ‘‘(1) an establishment or house-to-house trade

4 route which sells food for home preparation and con5 sumption and (A) offers for sale on a continuous

6 basis a variety of foods in each of the four categories

7 of staple foods as defined in subsection (u), includ8 ing perishable foods in at least two such categories,

9 or (B) has over 50 percent of its total sales in staple

10 foods as defined in subsection (u) of this section, as

11 determined by visual inspection, sales records, pur12 chase records, counting of stock keeping units, or

13 other inventory or accounting recordkeeping methods

14 that are customary or reasonable in the retail food

15 industry,’’;

16 (2) adding the following new sentence at the

17 end of subsection (k): ‘‘An establishment or house18 to-house trade route that is authorized at the time

19 of implementation of clause (1) may be considered to

20 meet this definition until its periodic reauthorization

21 or until such time as the eligibility of the firm for

22 continued participation in the food stamp program is

23 evaluated for any reason.’’; and

24 (3) adding a new subsection (u) at the end

25 thereof to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘(u) ‘Staple foods’ means foods in the following cat2 egories: (1) meat, poultry, or fish; (2) bread or cereals;

3 (3) vegetables or fruits; and (4) dairy products; but does

4 not include accessory food items such as coffee, tea, cocoa,

5 carbonated and uncarbonated drinks, candy, condiments

6 and spices.’’.

7 SEC. 2. PERIODIC NOTICE.

8 Section 9(a)(2) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7

9 U.S.C. 2018(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall issue regulations providing

11 for a periodic reauthorization of retail food stores and

12 wholesale food concerns, and providing for periodic notice

13 to participating retail food stores and wholesale food con14 cerns of the definitions of ‘retail food store’, ‘staple foods’,

15 ‘eligible foods’, and ‘perishable foods’.’’.

16 SEC. 3. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION PROVIDED

17 BY RETAIL FOOD STORES AND WHOLESALE

18 FOOD CONCERNS.

19 Section 9(c) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7

20 U.S.C. 2018(c)) is amended—

21 (1) in the second sentence by inserting after

22 ‘‘disclosed to and used by’’ the following: ‘‘Federal

23 law enforcement and investigative agencies and law

24 enforcement and investigative agencies of a State

25 government for the purposes of administering or en-
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1 forcing the provisions of this Act or any other Fed2 eral or State law and the regulations issued under

3 this Act or such law, and’’;

4 (2) by inserting after the second sentence the

5 following: ‘‘An officer or employee of an agency de6 scribed in the preceding sentence who publishes, di7 vulges, discloses, or makes known in any manner or

8 to any extent not authorized by Federal law any in9 formation obtained under the authority granted by

10 this subsection shall be subject to section 1905 of

11 title 18 of the United States Code.’’; and

12 (3) in the last sentence by striking ‘‘Such pur13 poses shall not exclude’’ and inserting the following:

14 ‘‘Such regulations shall establish the criteria to be

15 used by the Secretary to determine that such infor16 mation is needed. Such regulations shall not pro17 hibit’’.

18 SEC. 4. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TESTING ACTIVITIES

19 DIRECTED AT STREET TRAFFICKING IN COU20 PONS.

21 Section 17 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C.

22 2026) is amended by adding a new subsection (1) at the

23 end thereof as follows—

24 ‘‘(1) The Secretary shall use up to $4 million

25 of funds provided in advance in appropriations Acts
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1 for projects authorized by this section to conduct

2 projects in which State or local food stamp agencies

3 test innovative ideas for working with State or local

4 law enforcement agencies to investigate and pros5 ecute coupon street trafficking by recipients, buyers,

6 and authorized retail food stores.’’.

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