I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5167 

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

stigma associated with unpaid meal fees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2010 

Mr. ELLISON 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 reduce stigma associated with unpaid meal fees, 

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 ‘‘School Meals Stigma 

5 Reduction Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 

7 (a) RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENTS.—Section 

8 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School 

9 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended to read 

10 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(C) DURATION.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as other3 wise specified in paragraph (3)(E), 

4 (3)(H)(ii), and section 11(a), eligibility for 

5 free or reduced price meals for any school 

6 year shall remain in effect— 

7 ‘‘(I) beginning on the date of eli8 gibility approval for the current school 

9 year; and 

10 ‘‘(II) ending on a date during the 

11 subsequent school year determined by 

12 the Secretary. 

13 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu14 cational agency may revise a previously 

15 submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi16 bility approval of a child for free or re17 duced price meals for a period not to ex18 ceed a total of 90 days, beginning not ear19 lier than the first operating day of the cur20 rent school year and ending on the date of 

21 eligibility approval for the child for such 

22 school year.’’ 

23 (b) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID

24 MEAL FEES.—Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell 


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1 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758 (b)(10)) is 

2 amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(10) PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION AND

4 PREVENTION OF STIGMA.— 

5 ‘‘(A) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIB6 ITED.—No physical segregation of or other dis7 crimination against any child eligible for a free 

8 meal or a reduced price meal under the school 

9 lunch program under this Act or the school 

10 breakfast program under section 4 of the Child 

11 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) shall 

12 be made by the school nor shall there be any 

13 overt identification of any child by special to14 kens or tickets, announced or published list of 

15 names, or by other means. 

16 ‘‘(B) REIMBURSABLE MEALS FOR ELIGI17 BLE CHILDREN.— 

18 ‘‘(i) CHILDREN ELIGIBLE FOR FREE

19 MEALS.—Each child eligible for a free meal 

20 shall be provided the meal that is being 

21 provided under the school lunch program 

22 under this Act or the school breakfast pro23 gram under section 4 of the Child Nutri24 tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) on any 

25 given day, regardless of any unpaid fees. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) CHILDREN ELIGIBLE FOR RE2 DUCED PRICE MEALS.—Each child eligible 

3 for a reduced-price meal shall be provided 

4 the meal that is being provided under the 

5 school lunch program under this Act or the 

6 school breakfast program under section 4 

7 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

8 U.S.C. 1773) on any given day, as long as 

9 the child pays the reduced-price meal fee 

10 that day, regardless of any unpaid fees. 

11 ‘‘(C) SUBSTITUTE MEAL POLICIES FOR

12 CHILDREN WITH UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL

13 FEES.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A local edu15 cational agency that wishes to implement a 

16 substitute meal policy for children with un17 paid school meal fees shall develop a plan 

18 described in clause (ii) to ensure that the 

19 policy does not create stigma with respect 

20 to such children. 

21 ‘‘(ii) PLAN DESCRIPTION.—The plan 

22 shall be approved in writing by the applica23 ble State agency and include an expla24 nation of— 


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1 ‘‘(I) how the policy will be imple2 mented so that stigma is not created; 

3 ‘‘(II) how staff will be trained to 

4 ensure that the policy is carried out 

5 correctly; and 

6 ‘‘(III) how the affected house7 holds will be provided with assistance 

8 in establishing eligibility for free or 

9 reduced-price school meals. 

10 ‘‘(D) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION.—For 

11 any child who is a member of a household that 

12 owes a week or more of fees for meals, a local 

13 educational agency shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify the 

15 child for free meals under paragraph (4) or 

16 (5); or 

17 ‘‘(ii) in a case where the local edu18 cational agency is not able to directly cer19 tify the child under paragraph (4) or (5), 

20 provide to the household— 

21 ‘‘(I) a household application and 

22 applicable descriptive material; and 

23 ‘‘(II) written and oral commu24 nications to encourage the household 

25 to submit the application. 


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1 ‘‘(E) UNPAID FEES.—The local edu2 cational agency may attempt to collect unpaid 

3 school meal fees from a household, but the local 

4 educational agency shall not— 

5 ‘‘(i) take any action directed at a 

6 child who is a member of the household, 

7 including withholding educational opportu8 nities or stigmatizing the child; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) use a debt collector (as such 

10 term is defined in section 803 of the Con11 sumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 1692a)) to attempt to collect unpaid fees 

13 from the household.’’. 

Æ 


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