II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1907 

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

the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2019 

Ms. SMITH 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 prohibit the stigmatization of children who are 

unable to pay for 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 ‘‘No Shame at School 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MANDATORY CERTIFICATION. 

7 Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. Russell National 

8 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘DIS2 CRETIONARY’’ and inserting ‘‘MANDATORY’’; and 

3 (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

4 by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 

5 SEC. 3. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 

6 Section 9(b)(9) of the Richard B. Russell National 

7 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)) is amended by 

8 adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(D) RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT.— 

10 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara11 graph: 

12 ‘‘(I) CHANGE IN ELIGIBILITY.— 

13 The term ‘change in eligibility’ means, 

14 with respect to eligibility for the 

15 school lunch program under this 

16 Act— 

17 ‘‘(aa) a change from eligi18 bility for reduced price meals to 

19 eligibility for free meals; and 

20 ‘‘(bb) a change from non21 eligibility to eligibility for free or 

22 reduced price meals. 

23 ‘‘(II) MEAL CLAIM.—The term 

24 ‘meal claim’ means any documenta25 tion provided by a school food authorVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1907.IS S1907

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1 ity to a State agency in order to re2 ceive reimbursement under this Act 

3 for the cost of a meal served to a 

4 child by the school food authority. 

5 ‘‘(III) PREVIOUSLY SUB6 MITTED.—The term ‘previously sub7 mitted’, with respect to a meal claim, 

8 means a meal claim submitted on or 

9 after the retroactive date. 

10 ‘‘(IV) RETROACTIVE DATE.—The 

11 term ‘retroactive date’ means the date 

12 that is the earlier of— 

13 ‘‘(aa) the first day of the 

14 current school year; and 

15 ‘‘(bb) the date that is 90 

16 days prior to the date of a 

17 change in eligibility of a child. 

18 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.— 

19 ‘‘(I) SUBMISSION OF MEAL

20 CLAIMS.—A local educational agency 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(aa) revise and resubmit a 

23 previously submitted meal claim 

24 to reflect a change in eligibility 


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1 described in subclause (i)(I)(aa) 

2 of a child; and 

3 ‘‘(bb) submit a meal claim 

4 for any meal provided on or after 

5 the retroactive date for a child 

6 that has a change of eligibility 

7 described in subclause (i)(I)(bb). 

8 ‘‘(II) REIMBURSEMENT.—The 

9 Secretary shall reimburse each meal 

10 claim submitted by a local educational 

11 agency under subclause (I).’’. 

12 SEC. 4. REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID 

13 SCHOOL MEAL FEES. 

14 Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 

15 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by 

16 striking paragraph (10) and inserting the following: 

17 ‘‘(10) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH

18 UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

19 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(i) COVERED CHILD.—The term 

21 ‘covered child’ means a child who— 

22 ‘‘(I) is enrolled in a school that 

23 participates in the school lunch pro24 gram under this Act or the school 

25 breakfast program under section 4 of 


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1 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

2 U.S.C. 1773); and 

3 ‘‘(II) is a member of a household 

4 that owes unpaid school meal fees. 

5 ‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

6 The term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means 

7 outstanding fees owed by a household to a 

8 local educational agency for lunch provided 

9 under this Act or breakfast provided under 

10 section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 

11 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 

12 ‘‘(B) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIB13 ITED.—A local educational agency or school 

14 food authority may not, based on the status of 

15 a covered child as a covered child— 

16 ‘‘(i) physically segregate the covered 

17 child; 

18 ‘‘(ii) overtly identify the covered 

19 child— 

20 ‘‘(I) through the use of special 

21 tokens or tickets; or 

22 ‘‘(II) by an announcement or a 

23 published list of names; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize the cov25 ered child by any other means. 


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1 ‘‘(C) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION BY

2 LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any cov3 ered child who is a member of a household that 

4 has unpaid school meal fees for 1 consecutive 

5 week of meals or more, a local educational 

6 agency shall— 

7 ‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify the 

8 covered child for free meals under para9 graph (4) or (5); or 

10 ‘‘(ii) in a case where the local edu11 cational agency is not able to directly cer12 tify the covered child under paragraph (4) 

13 or (5), provide to the household of the cov14 ered child— 

15 ‘‘(I) a household application for 

16 free or reduced price lunch under this 

17 Act and free breakfast under section 4 

18 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 

19 (42 U.S.C. 1773) and applicable de20 scriptive material; and 

21 ‘‘(II) written and oral commu22 nication to encourage submission of 

23 the application described in subclause 

24 (I). 


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1 ‘‘(D) COLLECTION OF UNPAID SCHOOL

2 MEAL FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid 

3 school meal fees from a household, a local edu4 cational agency or school food authority may 

5 not— 

6 ‘‘(i) except as described in subpara7 graph (E), direct any communication re8 garding unpaid school meal fees to a cov9 ered child who is a member of the house10 hold; 

11 ‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportuni12 ties from, or otherwise stigmatize, a cov13 ered child due to the status of the covered 

14 child as a covered child; or 

15 ‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as defined 

16 in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 

17 Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)). 

18 ‘‘(E) LETTERS.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

20 (ii), a school food authority may request a 

21 covered child to deliver a letter addressed 

22 to a parent or guardian of the covered 

23 child that contains a communication relat24 ing to unpaid school meal fees. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) CONDITION.—In carrying out 

2 clause (i), a school food authority shall not 

3 provide the letter to the covered child in a 

4 manner that stigmatizes the covered child. 

5 ‘‘(F) ELIMINATING STIGMA IN MEAL SERV6 ICE.—In providing a meal to a covered child, a 

7 local educational agency or school food author8 ity may not, based on the status of the covered 

9 child as a covered child, dispose of or take away 

10 from the covered child any food that has al11 ready been served to the covered child.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agri14 culture should ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, 

15 that a school food authority that participates in the school 

16 lunch program under the Richard B. Russell National 

17 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or the school 

18 breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nutrition 

19 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) shall provide to a child who 

20 requests a lunch or breakfast the same lunch or breakfast 

21 provided to students not certified to receive free or re22 duced price school lunch or breakfast under those Acts, 

23 regardless of the ability of the child to pay for the lunch 

24 or breakfast requested. 

Æ 


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