Union Calendar No. 190

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3436

[Report No. 103–352]

A BILL

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to ensure

the Food Stamp Program.of food stamps and to maintain the integrity ofadequate access to retail food stores by recipients

NOVEMBER 10, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 190

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3436

[Report No. 103–352]

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

NOVEMBER 10, 1993

Additional sponsors: Mr. DE LUGO, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr.

ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. SERRANO,

and Mr. TORRES

NOVEMBER 10, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 3, 1993]

A BILL

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to ensure adequate
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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 Section 3 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C.

5 2012) is amended by—

6 (1) amending clause (1) of subsection (k) to read

7 as follows:

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

9 route that sells food for home preparation and con10 sumption and (A) offers for sale on a continuous

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

12 of staple foods as defined in subsection (u), including

13 perishable foods in at least two such categories, or (B)

14 has over 50 percent of its total sales in staple foods,

15 as determined by visual inspection, sales records, pur16 chase records, counting of stock keeping units, or other

17 inventory or accounting recordkeeping methods that

18 are customary or reasonable in the retail food indus19 try,’’;

20 (2) adding a new subsection (u) at the end there21 of to read as follows—

22 ‘‘(u) ‘‘Staple foods’’ means foods in the following cat23 egories: (1) meat, poultry, or fish; (2) bread or cereals; (3)
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1 vegetables or fruits; and (4) dairy products. Staple foods

2 do not include accessory food items such as coffee, tea, cocoa,

3 carbonated and uncarbonated drinks, candy, condiments,

4 and spices.’’.

5 SEC. 2. PERIODIC NOTICE.

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

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

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

9 for a periodic reauthorization of retail food stores and

10 wholesale food concerns, and providing for periodic notice

11 to participating retail food stores and wholesale food con12 cerns of the definitions of ‘retail food store’, ‘staple foods’,

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

14 SEC. 3. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION PROVIDED

15 BY RETAIL FOOD STORES AND WHOLESALE

16 FOOD CONCERNS.

17 Section 9(c) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C.

18 2018(c)) is amended—

19 (1) in the second sentence by inserting after ‘‘dis20 closed to and used by’’ the following: ‘‘Federal law en21 forcement and investigative agencies and law enforce22 ment and investigative agencies of a State govern23 ment for the purposes of administering or enforcing

24 the provisions of this Act or any other Federal or
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1 State law and the regulations issued under this Act

2 or such law, and (2)’’;

3 (2) by inserting after the second sentence the fol4 lowing: ‘‘Any person who publishes, divulges, dis5 closes, or makes known in any manner or to any ex6 tent not authorized by Federal law, or the regulations

7 issued under this Act, any information obtained

8 under this subsection shall be fined not more than

9 $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or

10 both.’’; and

11 (3) in the last sentence by striking ‘‘Such pur12 poses shall not exclude’’ and inserting the following:

13 ‘‘Such regulations shall establish the criteria to be

14 used by the Secretary to determine that such informa15 tion is needed. Such regulations shall not prohibit’’.

16 SEC. 4. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TESTING ACTIVITIES

17 DIRECTED AT TRAFFICKING IN COUPONS.

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

19 2026) is amended by adding a new subsection (l) at the

20 end thereof as follows:

21 ‘‘(l) The Secretary shall use up to $4,000,000 of

22 the funds provided in advance in appropriations Acts

23 for projects authorized by this section to conduct dem24 onstration projects in which State or local food stamp

25 agencies test innovative ideas for working with State
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1 or local law enforcement agencies to investigate and

2 prosecute coupon trafficking by recipients, buyers,

3 and retail food stores.’’.

4 SEC. 5. CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.

5 An establishment or house-to-house trade route that is

6 otherwise authorized to accept and redeem coupons under

7 the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) at the

8 time of enactment of this Act shall be considered to meet

9 the definition of ‘‘retail food store’’ in section 3(k) of the

10 Food Stamp Act of 1977, as amended by section 1 of this

11 Act, until its periodic reauthorization or until such time

12 as the eligibility of the establishment or house-to-house trade

13 route for continued participation in the food stamp pro14 gram is evaluated for any reason.