I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 253 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to transition the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the supplemental nutrition assistance program, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2023 

Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N (for herself, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. MOYLAN, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to transition 

the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the supplemental 

nutrition assistance program, 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 ‘‘Puerto Rico Nutrition 

5 Assistance Fairness Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOOD AND NUTRITION ACT 

7 OF 2008. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Food and Nutri9 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (r) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 

2 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, and 

3 (2) in subsection (u)(2) by inserting ‘‘, Puerto 

4 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Hawaii’’. 

5 (b) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the Food 

6 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 

8 Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, 

9 (2) in subsection (c)(1) by striking ‘‘and 

10 Guam’’ and inserting ‘‘Guam, and Puerto Rico’’, 

11 and 

12 (3) in subsection (e)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting 

14 ‘‘Puerto Rico,’’ after ‘‘Hawaii,’’ each place it 

15 appears, and 

16 (B) in paragraph (6)(B) by inserting 

17 ‘‘Puerto Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 

18 SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF PLAN OF OPERATION; TECHNICAL 

19 ASSISTANCE; DETERMINATION AND CERTIFI20 CATION BY SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 

21 (a) SUBMISSION OF PLAN OF OPERATION.—On des22 ignating an agency of the kind described in section 3(s)(1) 

23 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 

24 2012(s)(1)), the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall have 

25 60 days to submit to the Secretary of Agriculture (in this 


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1 Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) its plan of operation, 

2 including a plan to transition to the supplemental nutri3 tion assistance program under section 4(a) of such Act 

4 (7 U.S.C. 5(a)) as a request to participate in the supple5 mental nutrition assistance program under of the Food 

6 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.). 

7 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Within the 60-day pe8 riod specified in subsection (a) and upon request from the 

9 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Secretary shall provide 

10 appropriate training and technical assistance to enable the 

11 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to formulate a plan of oper12 ation described in subsection (a). 

13 (c) DETERMINATION BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRI14 CULTURE.—Not later than 180 days after receiving a plan 

15 of operation described in subsection (a), the Secretary 

16 shall approve if such plan satisfies the requirements for 

17 a supplemental nutrition assistance program State plan 

18 in accordance with subsections (d) and (e) of section 11 

19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020). 

20 If the Secretary does not approve such plan, the Secretary 

21 shall provide, not later than 30 days after disapproval, a 

22 statement that specifies each of the requirements that 

23 were not satisfied by such plan. 

24 (d) CERTIFICATION BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRI25 CULTURE.—If the Secretary approves the plan submitted 


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1 by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico under subsection 

2 (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress, not later 

3 than 60 days thereafter, a certification that the Common4 wealth of Puerto Rico qualifies to participate in the sup5 plemental nutrition assistance program as a State as de6 fined in section 3(r) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 

7 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(r)). 

8 SEC. 4. TRANSITION FROM THE CONSOLIDATED BLOCK 

9 GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO. 

10 (a) COVERED PERIOD.—The Secretary may continue 

11 to implement the then most recent approved consolidated 

12 block grant specified in section 19(b)(1)(A) of the Food 

13 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028(b)(1)(A)) for 

14 a period ending no later than 5 years after the effective 

15 date of the amendments made by this Act, or on the date 

16 the Secretary determines that the Commonwealth of Puer17 to Rico no longer needs to operate the consolidated block 

18 grant to complete the transition described in section 3(a), 

19 whichever occurs first. 

20 (b) REPORT.—For each year a plan is continued 

21 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the 

22 Congress an annual report on the operation of such plan. 

23 The Secretary shall include in such report information re24 lated to increases in funding that are required to accom25 modate the transition of the Commonwealth of Puerto 


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1 Rico from the receipt of block grant payments to the im2 plementation of supplemental nutrition assistance pro3 gram. 

4 SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO 

5 AND AMERICAN SAMOA. 

6 Section 19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 

7 (7 U.S.C. 2028) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting ‘‘until 

10 the end of the period described in section 4(a) 

11 of the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fair12 ness Act,’’ after ‘‘(A)’’, 

13 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

15 (I) in clause (i) by striking 

16 ‘‘and’’ at the end, and 

17 (II) in clause (ii)— 

18 (aa) by inserting ‘‘, and end19 ing at the end of the period de20 scribed in section 4(a) of the 

21 Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance 

22 Fairness Act’’ after ‘‘thereafter’’, 

23 (bb) by striking the period 

24 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 

25 and 


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1 (cc) by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(iii) subject to the availability of ap4 propriations under section 18(a), for each 

5 fiscal year beginning after the end of the 

6 period described in section 4(a) of the 

7 Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness 

8 Act, 0.4 percent of the aggregate amount 

9 specified in clause (i) and adjusted under 

10 clause (ii), as further adjusted by the per11 centage by which the thrifty food plan has 

12 been adjusted under section 3(u)(4) be13 tween June 30 of the penultimate fiscal 

14 year preceding such effective date and 

15 June 30 of the fiscal year for which the 

16 adjustment is made under this clause.’’, 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i) by insert18 ing ‘‘ending at the end of the period de19 scribed in section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico 

20 Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act’’ after 

21 ‘‘thereafter’’, and 

22 (iii) in subparagraph (C)— 

23 (I) by striking ‘‘For’’ and insert24 ing the following: 

25 ‘‘(i) For’’, 


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1 (II) by inserting ‘‘ending at the 

2 end of the period described in section 

3 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition As4 sistance Fairness Act’’ after ‘‘there5 after’’, and 

6 (III) by adding at the end, the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(ii) For each fiscal year beginning 

9 after the end of the period described in 

10 section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition 

11 Assistance Fairness Act, the Secretary 

12 shall use 100 percent of the funds made 

13 available under subparagraph (A) for pay14 ment to American Samoa to pay 100 per15 cent of the expenditures by American 

16 Samoa for a nutrition assistance program 

17 extended under section 601(c) of Public 

18 Law 96–597 (48 U.S.C. 1469d(c)).’’, and 

19 (C) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘year,’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘year ending at the end of the pe21 riod described in section 4(a) of the Puerto 

22 Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act, and’’ 

23 after ‘‘year’’, and 

24 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by inserting ‘‘and 

25 ending at the end of the period described in section 


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1 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fair2 ness Act’’ after ‘‘year’’ the first place it appears. 

3 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

5 this Act such sums as may be necessary until the end of 

6 the period described in section 4(a). 

7 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

9 (b), this Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

10 of this Act. 

11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE OF AMENDMENTS.—The 

12 amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 

13 1 of the 1st fiscal year that begins 1 year after the Sec14 retary submits to Congress the certification described in 

15 section 3(d) of this Act. 

Æ 


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