II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3226 

To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to permit video or telephone 

certifications under the special supplemental nutrition program for 

women, infants, and children, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2021 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Mr. MARSHALL) introduced the following 

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

Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to permit video 

or telephone certifications under the special supplemental 

nutrition program for women, infants, and children, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘More Options to De5 velop and Enhance Remote Nutrition in WIC Act of 

6 2021’’ or the ‘‘MODERN WIC Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PRESENCE AT CERTIFICATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 17(d)(3)(C) of the Child 

3 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(d)(3)(C)) is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in the subparagraph heading, by striking 

6 ‘‘PHYSICAL PRESENCE’’ and inserting ‘‘PRESENCE’’; 

7 (2) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘physically present 

8 at each certification or recertification determination’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘present at each certification or recer10 tification, either in person or through video tech11 nology permitting 2-way, real-time interactive com12 munications,’’; and 

13 (3) in clause (ii)— 

14 (A) in subclause (I), in the matter pre15 ceding item (aa), by striking ‘‘an infant or 

16 child’’ and inserting ‘‘any eligible individual’’; 

17 (B) by redesignating subclauses (I) 

18 through (III) as subclauses (II) through (IV), 

19 respectively; and 

20 (C) by inserting before subclause (II) (as 

21 so redesignated) the following: 

22 ‘‘(I) any eligible individual— 

23 ‘‘(aa) who completes the cer24 tification process through a tele25 phone appointment or other re26 mote technology; and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) for whom all necessary 

2 certification information is ob3 tained not more than 90 days be4 fore or after the certification ap5 pointment;’’. 

6 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 17(d)(3) of 

7 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(d)(3)) 

8 is amended by conforming the margin of subparagraph 

9 (B) to the margin of subparagraph (C). 

10 SEC. 3. REMOTE BENEFIT ISSUANCE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 17(f)(6)(B) of the Child 

12 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(f)(6)(B)) is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) in the third sentence— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘vouchers by mail’’ and in16 serting ‘‘food instruments’’; and 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and in18 serting the following: 

19 ‘‘(iii) DISAPPROVAL OF STATE

20 PLAN.—The Secretary’’; 

21 (2) in the second sentence— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘vouchers by mail in its 

23 plan’’ and inserting ‘‘food instruments by mail, 

24 remote issuance, or other means in the State 

25 plan’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘The State’’ and inserting 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(ii) STATE PLAN.—The State’’; and 

4 (3) by striking ‘‘(B) State agencies’’ and all 

5 that follows through ‘‘to obtain vouchers.’’ and in6 serting the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) DELIVERY OF VOUCHERS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—State agencies 

9 may provide for the delivery of food instru10 ments, including electronic benefit transfer 

11 cards, to any participant through means 

12 that do not require the participant to trav13 el to the local agency to obtain food instru14 ments, such as through mailing or remote 

15 issuance.’’. 

16 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall revise sec17 tion 246.12(r) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, by 

18 striking paragraph (4). 

19 SEC. 4. ANNUAL INVESTMENT IN WIC TECHNOLOGIES. 

20 Section 17(h) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

21 U.S.C. 1786(h)) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2)(B)— 

23 (A) by striking clause (ii); and 


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1 (B) by striking the subparagraph designa2 tion and all that follows through ‘‘clause (ii) 

3 and’’ and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION FOR NUTRITION SERV5 ICES AND ADMINISTRATION.—Except as pro6 vided in’’; and 

7 (2) in paragraph (10)— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

9 ‘‘2010 through 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2023 

10 through 2028’’; and 

11 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

12 clause (ii) and inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(ii) $60,000,000 shall be used to es14 tablish, develop, improve, replace, or ad15 minister technology platforms, including 

16 management information systems, that en17 hance program services, access to the pro18 gram, or redemption of benefits, of which 

19 up to $5,000,000 may be used for Federal 

20 administrative costs; and’’. 

21 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

24 to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

25 of the Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor 


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1 of the House of Representatives a report on the use of 

2 remote technologies under the special supplemental nutri3 tion program for women, infants, and children established 

4 by section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

5 U.S.C. 1786) (referred to in this section as the ‘‘pro6 gram’’). 

7 (b) CONTENT OF REPORT.—The report submitted 

8 under subsection (a) shall include a description of— 

9 (1) the use of remote technologies and other 

10 digital tools, including video, telephone, and online 

11 platforms— 

12 (A) to certify eligible individuals for pro13 gram services; and 

14 (B) to provide nutrition education and 

15 breastfeeding support to program participants; 

16 (2) the impact of remote technologies, including 

17 video, telephone, and online platforms, on certifi18 cations, appointments, and participant satisfaction 

19 under the program; and 

20 (3) best practices— 

21 (A) to certify program participants for pro22 gram services using remote technologies; 

23 (B) to incorporate the use of digital tools 

24 into the program certification process; 


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1 (C) to integrate nutrition education and 

2 breastfeeding support services for program par3 ticipants into remote technologies and plat4 forms; and 

5 (D) to securely manage program partici6 pant data. 

Æ 


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