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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5027 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5027

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to assess the effectiveness and 
 efficiency of administrative review systems to ensure compliance with 
                        Federal meal standards.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 14, 2010

 Mr. Tonko (for himself, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Fudge, and Ms. Richardson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to assess the effectiveness and 
 efficiency of administrative review systems to ensure compliance with 
                        Federal meal standards.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Eating Healthy at School Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Information about school meal quality is vital to 
        maximizing the national investment in the school meal programs 
        established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child 
        Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) and for measuring the 
        effectiveness of and compliance with Federal school meal 
        standards.
            (2) Assessing compliance with Federal school meal standards 
        will enhance child health and the nutritional quality of school 
        meals, contribute to nutrition research and evaluation of the 
        school meal programs, and improve oversight of the school meal 
        programs.
            (3) According to the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment 
        Study-III of the school meals served under the school meal 
        programs in school year 2004-2005, the majority of schools 
        offered breakfasts and lunches that met the standards for the 
        recommended daily intake of key nutrients, such as vitamins A 
        and C, calcium, protein, and iron, but that the majority of 
        school lunches were still too high in fat, saturated fat, and 
        sodium.
            (4) Reviews of the nutritional quality of school meals 
        under the school meals initiative for healthy children (60 Fed. 
        Reg. 31188 (1995)) assess only the lunches served in 1 school 
        per school food authority every 5 years and do not include 
        assessments of breakfasts served by schools participating in 
        the school breakfast program established under section 4 of the 
        Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) or compliance with 
        nutrition standards for foods sold in schools outside of the 
        school meal programs.
            (5) Reviews of school meals under the school meals 
        initiative for healthy children are laborious for State child 
        nutrition programs and local school food authorities. 
        Simplified, less burdensome, and more effective approaches are 
        needed.
            (6) The Institute of Medicine recommends changes to school 
        meals to reflect the most recent Dietary Guidelines for 
        Americans published under section 301 of the National Nutrition 
        Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341). 
        The recommendations for new meal requirements involve 
        significant shifts in the approach of schools to menu planning 
        and will likely require new mechanisms for monitoring meal 
        quality.
            (7) Food of poor nutritional value sold in schools outside 
        of the school meal programs can undermine the national 
        investment in school meals.
            (8) Gaps in Federal requirements for program integrity 
        reviews limit the ability to identify and address meal counting 
        and claiming errors.
            (9) Program integrity reviews are not required for the 
        school breakfast program. Twenty-one States reported to the 
        Comptroller General of the United States that they do not 
        review the school breakfast program.
            (10) The percentage of meal counting and claiming errors is 
        higher in the school breakfast program than in the school lunch 
        program.

SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a study 
to--
            (1) assess the effectiveness and efficiency of 
        administrative review systems to ensure--
                    (A) each local educational agency participating in 
                the school lunch program established under the Richard 
                B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 
                seq.) complies with the provisions of such Act, 
                including the provisions with respect to nutrition, 
                eligibility, meal counts, and claims for reimbursement;
                    (B) each local educational agency participating in 
                the school breakfast program established under section 
                4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) 
                complies with the provisions of such Act, including the 
                provisions with respect to nutrition, eligibility, meal 
                counts, and claims for reimbursement; and
                    (C) each local educational agency described in 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B) is accountable for the 
                compliance described in such subparagraphs;
            (2) design and test alternative processes and procedures 
        that may improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the 
        administrative review systems described in paragraph (1), and 
        determine the optimal frequency for carrying out reviews under 
        such systems; and
            (3) identify any alternative processes and procedures for 
        establishing a more effective and efficient administrative 
        review system which--
                    (A) reflect the results of tests of alternative 
                processes and procedures conducted pursuant to 
                paragraph (2); and
                    (B) consider the practicality of implementing such 
                alternative processes and procedures, including the 
                cost and burden of implementation that would be imposed 
                on local school food authorities, local educational 
                agencies, and State educational agencies.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the Committee 
on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a 
report that describes the results and recommendations of the study 
conducted pursuant to subsection (a).
    (c) Regulations.--The Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe 
regulations as may be necessary to implement the processes or 
procedures identified pursuant to subsection (a)(3) for establishing an 
effective and efficient administrative review system.
    (d) Funding.--
            (1) In general.--Upon the date of the enactment of this 
        Act, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise 
        appropriated, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to 
        the Secretary of Agriculture $3,500,000 to carry out this 
        section, to remain available until expended.
            (2) Receipt and acceptance.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
        shall be entitled to receive, shall accept, and shall use to 
        carry out this section the funds transferred under paragraph 
        (1), without further appropriation.
                                 <all>
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