I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3492 

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

a permanent program for the procurement of unprocessed fruits and 

vegetables to provide healthier school meals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2019 

Mr. WELCH 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 make a permanent program for the procurement 

of unprocessed fruits and vegetables to provide healthier 

school meals, 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 ‘‘Local School Foods 

5 Expansion Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HELPING SCHOOLS SERVE HEALTHIER MEALS. 

7 Section 6(f) of the Richard B. Russell National 

8 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1755(f)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘PILOT

2 PROJECT FOR PROCUREMENT OF UNPROCESSED

3 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES’’ and inserting ‘‘PRO4 GRAM FOR PROCUREMENT OF DOMESTICALLY

5 GROWN UNPROCESSED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES’’; 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘pilot project’’ each place it ap7 pears and inserting ‘‘program’’; 

8 (3) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol9 lows: 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

11 out a program to facilitate the procurement of do12 mestically grown unprocessed fruits and vegetables 

13 in not fewer than 15 States receiving funds under 

14 this Act.’’; 

15 (4) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘domestically 

16 grown’’ before ‘‘unprocessed’’; 

17 (5) in paragraph (5)— 

18 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND RE19 PORTING REQUIREMENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘, RE20 PORTING REQUIREMENTS, AND EVALUATIONS’’; 

21 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

22 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

23 the end; 

24 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe25 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(iii) the challenges and opportunities 

4 presented by the program, as assessed by 

5 the State.’’; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 

9 years after the date of the enactment of 

10 this subparagraph, the Secretary shall 

11 evaluate the impact of the program, includ12 ing information on— 

13 ‘‘(I) the quantity and cost of 

14 each type of unprocessed fruit and 

15 vegetable procured by each State 

16 under the program; 

17 ‘‘(II) the benefit of such procure18 ment in conducting school food service 

19 in each State, including meeting 

20 school meal requirements; and 

21 ‘‘(III) the economic impact the 

22 program has had on agricultural pro23 ducers in each State. 

24 ‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than 4 

25 years after the date of enactment of this 


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1 subparagraph, the Secretary shall submit 

2 to the Committee on Agriculture of the 

3 House Representatives and the Committee 

4 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 

5 the Senate a report that includes the re6 sults and an analysis of the evaluation re7 quired under clause (i).’’; and 

8 (6) by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(6) FUNDING.— 

11 ‘‘(A) MANDATORY FUNDING.—There is ap12 propriated to carry out this section 

13 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 

14 through 2024. 

15 ‘‘(B) RESERVATION.—Of the funds appro16 priated under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal 

17 year, $10,000,000 shall be reserved for States 

18 selected pursuant to paragraph (1) to carry out 

19 State program administration and provide tech20 nical assistance and outreach to vendors to be21 come certified to participate in the program 

22 under this section. 

23 ‘‘(C) MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—Of the 

24 funds reserved under subparagraph (B), each 

25 State selected pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 


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1 receive not less than $300,000 for each fiscal 

2 year during which such State participates in the 

3 program under this section.’’. 

Æ 


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