I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 11

To amend the National School Lunch Act to establish an optional universal

school lunch and breakfast program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. OWENS, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. TOWNS, and Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Education and Labor

JUNE 30, 1993

Additional sponsors: Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Ms.

BYRNE, Mr. EVANS, Mr. STOKES, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. STARK, Mr. DARDEN, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr.

LEHMAN, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. ROSE, Mr.

SCOTT, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. TORRICELLI, Mr. CARR,

Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. BROWN of California, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. BORSKI,

Mr. VENTO, Mrs. MINK, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, and Mr. STUPAK

A BILL

To amend the National School Lunch Act to establish an

optional universal school lunch and breakfast program.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Universal Student

3 Nutrition Act of 1993’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds that—

6 (1) the national school lunch and breakfast pro7 grams are vital to protecting the health and well8 being of the Nation’s children;

9 (2) these essential child nutrition programs help

10 prepare children to learn and to combat childhood

11 hunger;

12 (3) the national school lunch program serves

13 approximately 25,000,000 per day, and the school

14 breakfast program serves approximately 4,000,000

15 children per day;

16 (4) there are approximately 4,000,000 eligible

17 low-income students who are not participating in the

18 free and reduced price school meal programs;

19 (5) in the last decade—

20 (A) Federal subsidies for school meal pro21 grams have been reduced;

22 (B) bonus commodities from the Depart23 ment of Agriculture for such programs have al24 most vanished;
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1 (C) the administrative complexity and cost

2 of administering such programs have increased;

3 and

4 (D) indirect cost assessments are draining

5 the financial resources of such programs; and

6 (6) many schools, mostly high schools, are drop7 ping out of the school lunch program as a result of

8 the trends described in paragraph (5).

9 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OPTIONAL UNIVERSAL

10 SCHOOL LUNCH AND BREAKFAST PROGRAM.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The National School Lunch Act

12 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended by inserting after

13 section 11 the following new section:

14 ‘‘SEC. 11A. OPTIONAL UNIVERSAL SCHOOL LUNCH AND

15 BREAKFAST PROGRAM.

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

17 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es18 tablish an optional universal school lunch and break19 fast program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘uni20 versal program’’).

21 ‘‘(2) DESCRIPTION.—The universal program

22 shall consist of school lunch and breakfast service of23 fered without cost at school to all students in at24 tendance at the participating schools who wish to

25 participate in a manner consistent with the require-
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1 ments otherwise applicable to the school lunch pro2 gram under this Act and to the school breakfast pro3 gram under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of

4 1966.

5 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—Any school participating in

6 the school lunch program under this Act or the

7 school breakfast program under the Child Nutrition

8 Act of 1966 may elect to participate in the universal

9 program.

10 ‘‘(b) UNIVERSAL PAYMENT RATE.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3),

12 in lieu of receiving the national average payment per

13 lunch determined under section 4 and section 11,

14 and the national average payment per breakfast de15 termined under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act

16 of 1966, each school participating in the universal

17 program shall receive the universal payment rates

18 determined under paragraph (2) for each lunch and

19 breakfast served under the program.

20 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subject to paragraph

21 (3), the Secretary shall establish the universal pay22 ment rates for purposes of this section. Such rates

23 shall be equal to the national average cost of produc24 ing a school lunch, and the national average cost of

25 producing a school breakfast, respectively, as deter-
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1 mined by the Secretary. In making the determina2 tion required by the preceding sentence, the Sec3 retary shall establish a maximum amount that can

4 be charged to a participating school food service au5 thority for indirect expenses.

6 ‘‘(3) COMMODITIES.—Schools participating in

7 the universal program shall receive the same level of

8 commodities that they would receive under the

9 school lunch program under this Act and under the

10 school breakfast program under section 4 of the

11 Child Nutrition Act of 1966.

12 ‘‘(c) COMPETITIVE FOODS POLICY.—Schools partici13 pating in the universal program may sell competitive foods

14 under regulations issued by the Secretary.’’.

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Secretary of Agriculture

16 shall issue regulations to carry out section 11A of the Na17 tional School Lunch Act (as added by subsection (a) of

18 this section) that provide for the implementation of such

19 section not later than July 1, 2000.

20 SEC. 4. DIETARY GUIDELINES.

21 (a) SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM.—Section 9(a)(1) of

22 the National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(1))

23 is amended by striking ‘‘on the basis of tested nutritional

24 research’’ and inserting ‘‘in accordance with the Dietary
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1 Guidelines for Americans developed by the Department of

2 Agriculture’’.

3 (b) SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM.—Section 4(e)(1)

4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773(e)(1))

5 is amended by striking ‘‘on the basis of tested nutritional

6 research’’ and inserting ‘‘in accordance with the Dietary

7 Guidelines for Americans developed by the Department of

8 Agriculture’’.

9 SEC. 5. NUTRITION EDUCATION.

10 Section 19(i)(1) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966

11 (42 U.S.C. 1788(i)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘and each

12 fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 1995,’’ after

13 ‘‘October 1, 1978,’’.

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