II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3279

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

the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out pilot projects to increase milk

consumption and reduce the cost of milk served to school children.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

DECEMBER 14 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. JEFFORDS, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch

Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to carry

out pilot projects to increase milk consumption and reduce the cost of milk served to school children.

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 ‘‘Milk in Lunches for

5 Kids Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) increased flexibility in the distribution sys2 tem for milk made available to children participating

3 in the school lunch program under the Richard B.

4 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751

5 et seq.), the school breakfast program under section

6 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.

7 1773), and the special milk program under section

8 3 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 1772) would facilitate the

9 partnerships between producers of fluid milk prod10 ucts and school food service authorities; and

11 (2) higher consumption of milk results in better

12 nutritional habits among school children and im13 proves the health of the children participating in

14 those programs.

15 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

16 (1) to increase milk consumption among school

17 children; and

18 (2) to reduce the cost of the milk provided

19 under the school lunch and school breakfast pro20 grams.

21 SEC. 3. SCHOOL MILK SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PILOT

22 PROJECTS.

23 Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School

24 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the

25 end the following:
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1 ‘‘(f) SCHOOL MILK SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PILOT

2 PROJECTS.—

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es4 tablish pilot projects in schools under the jurisdic5 tion of not more than 20 school food service authori6 ties to modernize the methods through which milk is

7 served to children under this Act and sections 3 and

8 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.

9 1772, 1773).

10 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds made available

11 under this subsection may be used by a school food

12 service authority—

13 ‘‘(A) to improve methods of serving milk to

14 children by modernizing—

15 ‘‘(i) packaging;

16 ‘‘(ii) storage facilities; and

17 ‘‘(iii) displays;

18 ‘‘(B) to expand the variety of milk offered;

19 and

20 ‘‘(C) for other purposes relating to improv21 ing methods through which milk is served to

22 children.

23 ‘‘(3) EXEMPTION.—A school food service au24 thority participating in a pilot project under this
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1 subsection shall be exempt from the requirements of

2 section 9(a)(2)(B).

3 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION.—In approving the pilot

4 projects, the Secretary shall evaluate the partner5 ships between school food service authorities and

6 producers of milk products.

7 ‘‘(5) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after

8 the date of enactment of this subsection, the Sec9 retary shall submit to Congress a report evaluating

10 the impacts of the pilot projects on—

11 ‘‘(A) increasing milk consumption; and

12 ‘‘(B) reducing the cost of milk provided

13 under the school lunch and school breakfast

14 programs.

15 ‘‘(6) TERMINATION.—Each pilot project estab16 lished under this subsection shall terminate not later

17 than 2 full school years after the date of enactment

18 of this subsection.

19 ‘‘(7) FUNDING.—

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall

21 use for fiscal year 2001, $2,000,000 of funds

22 made available under section 3 to carry out this

23 subsection.

24 ‘‘(B) OFFSET.—The Secretary shall derive

25 the funds referred to in subparagraph (A), in
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1 an equal percentage, from each other activity

2 funded under section 3.’’.

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