Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act

Subjects: Agriculture and Food, American Samoa, Caribbean area, Food assistance and relief, Intergovernmental relations, Northern Mariana Islands, Poverty and welfare assistance, Puerto Rico, State and local government operations, U.S. territories and protectorates

Summary:  <p><b>Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act</b></p> <p>This bill sets out a process to enable Puerto Rico to participate as a state in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under current law, a state receives SNAP funding based on the number of participating households in the state whereas Puerto Rico receives a block grant to fund its nutrition assistance program.</p> <p>The bill requires Puerto Rico to submit to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) a plan of operation to transition away from the consolidated block grant program to SNAP. USDA must provide appropriate training and technical assistance to enable Puerto Rico to formulate such plan.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 253 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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 Gonzalez-Colon (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.

    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 ``Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance 
Fairness Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOOD AND NUTRITION ACT OF 2008.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 2012) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (r) by inserting ``Puerto Rico,'' after 
        ``Guam,'', and
            (2) in subsection (u)(2) by inserting ``, Puerto Rico,'' 
        after ``Hawaii''.
    (b) Eligible Households.--Section 5 of the Food and Nutrition Act 
of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b) by inserting ``Puerto Rico,'' after 
        ``Guam,'',
            (2) in subsection (c)(1) by striking ``and Guam'' and 
        inserting ``Guam, and Puerto Rico'', and
            (3) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting ``Puerto 
                Rico,'' after ``Hawaii,'' each place it appears, and
                    (B) in paragraph (6)(B) by inserting ``Puerto 
                Rico,'' after ``Guam,''.

SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF PLAN OF OPERATION; TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE; 
              DETERMINATION AND CERTIFICATION BY SECRETARY OF 
              AGRICULTURE.

    (a) Submission of Plan of Operation.--On designating an agency of 
the kind described in section 3(s)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 
2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(s)(1)), the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall have 
60 days to submit to the Secretary of Agriculture (in this Act referred 
to as the ``Secretary'') its plan of operation, including a plan to 
transition to the supplemental nutrition assistance program under 
section 4(a) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 5(a)) as a request to participate in 
the supplemental nutrition assistance program under of the Food and 
Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.).
    (b) Technical Assistance.--Within the 60-day period specified in 
subsection (a) and upon request from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
the Secretary shall provide appropriate training and technical 
assistance to enable the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to formulate a 
plan of operation described in subsection (a).
    (c) Determination by the Secretary of Agriculture.--Not later than 
180 days after receiving a plan of operation described in subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall approve if such plan satisfies the 
requirements for a supplemental nutrition assistance program State plan 
in accordance with subsections (d) and (e) of section 11 of the Food 
and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020). If the Secretary does not 
approve such plan, the Secretary shall provide, not later than 30 days 
after disapproval, a statement that specifies each of the requirements 
that were not satisfied by such plan.
    (d) Certification by the Secretary of Agriculture.--If the 
Secretary approves the plan submitted by the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress, 
not later than 60 days thereafter, a certification that the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico qualifies to participate in the 
supplemental nutrition assistance program as a State as defined in 
section 3(r) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(r)).

SEC. 4. TRANSITION FROM THE CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO.

    (a) Covered Period.--The Secretary may continue to implement the 
then most recent approved consolidated block grant specified in section 
19(b)(1)(A) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2028(b)(1)(A)) for a period ending no later than 5 years after the 
effective date of the amendments made by this Act, or on the date the 
Secretary determines that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico no longer 
needs to operate the consolidated block grant to complete the 
transition described in section 3(a), whichever occurs first.
    (b) Report.--For each year a plan is continued under subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress an annual report on the 
operation of such plan. The Secretary shall include in such report 
information related to increases in funding that are required to 
accommodate the transition of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from the 
receipt of block grant payments to the implementation of supplemental 
nutrition assistance program.

SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO AND AMERICAN SAMOA.

    Section 19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting ``until the 
                end of the period described in section 4(a) of the 
                Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act,'' after 
                ``(A)'',
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) in clause (i) by striking 
                                ``and'' at the end, and
                                    (II) in clause (ii)--
                                            (aa) by inserting ``, and 
                                        ending at the end of the period 
                                        described in section 4(a) of 
                                        the Puerto Rico Nutrition 
                                        Assistance Fairness Act'' after 
                                        ``thereafter'',
                                            (bb) by striking the period 
                                        at the end and inserting ``; 
                                        and'', and
                                            (cc) by adding at the end 
                                        the following:
                            ``(iii) subject to the availability of 
                        appropriations under section 18(a), for each 
                        fiscal year beginning after the end of the 
                        period described in section 4(a) of the Puerto 
                        Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act, 0.4 
                        percent of the aggregate amount specified in 
                        clause (i) and adjusted under clause (ii), as 
                        further adjusted by the percentage by which the 
                        thrifty food plan has been adjusted under 
                        section 3(u)(4) between June 30 of the 
                        penultimate fiscal year preceding such 
                        effective date and June 30 of the fiscal year 
                        for which the adjustment is made under this 
                        clause.'',
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i) by inserting 
                        ``ending at the end of the period described in 
                        section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition 
                        Assistance Fairness Act'' after ``thereafter'', 
                        and
                            (iii) in subparagraph (C)--
                                    (I) by striking ``For'' and 
                                inserting the following:
                            ``(i) For'',
                                    (II) by inserting ``ending at the 
                                end of the period described in section 
                                4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition 
                                Assistance Fairness Act'' after 
                                ``thereafter'', and
                                    (III) by adding at the end, the 
                                following:
                            ``(ii) For each fiscal year beginning after 
                        the end of the period described in section 4(a) 
                        of the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance 
                        Fairness Act, the Secretary shall use 100 
                        percent of the funds made available under 
                        subparagraph (A) for payment to American Samoa 
                        to pay 100 percent of the expenditures by 
                        American Samoa for a nutrition assistance 
                        program extended under section 601(c) of Public 
                        Law 96-597 (48 U.S.C. 1469d(c)).'', and
                    (C) in paragraph (3) by striking ``year,'' and 
                inserting ``year ending at the end of the period 
                described in section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition 
                Assistance Fairness Act, and'' after ``year'', and
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by inserting ``and ending at 
        the end of the period described in section 4(a) of the Puerto 
        Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act'' after ``year'' the 
        first place it appears.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such 
sums as may be necessary until the end of the period described in 
section 4(a).

SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Effective Date of Amendments.--The amendments made by this Act 
shall take effect on October 1 of the 1st fiscal year that begins 1 
year after the Secretary submits to Congress the certification 
described in section 3(d) of this Act.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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