I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1403 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 

schools participating in the school lunch program under such Act to 

donate any excess food to local food banks. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2009 

Mr. WOLF introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

Act to require schools participating in the school lunch 

program under such Act to donate any excess food to 

local food banks. 

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 ‘‘School Food Recovery 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FOOD DONATION PROGRAM. 

2 Section 9 of the Richard B. Russell National School 

3 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758) is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following: 

5 ‘‘(k) FOOD DONATION PROGRAM.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require 

7 each school participating in the school lunch pro8 gram under this Act to donate any food not con9 sumed under such program to eligible local food 

10 banks or charitable organizations. 

11 ‘‘(2) PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Each school de12 scribed in paragraph (1) shall prepare and submit to 

13 the local educational agency that serves such school 

14 a plan that— 

15 ‘‘(A) describes how such school will carry 

16 out the food donation program requirements 

17 under this subsection; 

18 ‘‘(B) identifies the name and contact infor19 mation of the school employee administering the 

20 food donation program; and 

21 ‘‘(C) identifies any eligible local food banks 

22 or charitable organizations that are located 

23 within the jurisdiction of the same local govern24 ment as the local educational agency that serves 

25 such school is located. 


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1 ‘‘(3) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later 

2 than the first day of the fiscal year after the effec3 tive date of this subsection, and annually thereafter, 

4 each local educational agency that receives plans 

5 under paragraph (2) shall submit to the Secretary 

6 such plans. 

7 ‘‘(4) DATABASE REQUIREMENT.—Not later 

8 than 2 years after the effective date of this sub9 section, the Secretary shall develop and maintain a 

10 database of the information described in paragraph 

11 (2)(B). 

12 ‘‘(5) GUIDANCE.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

14 days after the effective date of this subsection, 

15 the Secretary shall develop and publish guid16 ance to schools and local educational agencies 

17 participating in the school lunch program under 

18 this Act to assist such schools and local edu19 cational agencies in meeting the requirements 

20 of this subsection. 

21 ‘‘(B) UPDATES.—The Secretary shall up22 date such guidance as necessary. 

23 ‘‘(6) LIABILITY.—Any school or local edu24 cational agency making donations pursuant to this 

25 subsection shall be exempt from civil and criminal liVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:59 Mar 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1403.IH H1403

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1 ability to the extent provided under the Bill Emer2 son Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 1791). 

4 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE LOCAL FOOD BANKS OR

6 CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS.—The phrase ‘eli7 gible local food banks or charitable organiza8 tions’ means any food bank or charitable orga9 nization which is exempt from tax under section 

10 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

11 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)). 

12 ‘‘(B) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

13 ‘local government’ means a city, county, town14 ship, or other general-purpose political subdivi15 sion of a State.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

17 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

18 not later than July 1 of the year of the enactment of this 

19 Act. 

Æ 


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