FORK Act of 2023

Subjects: Agriculture and Food


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1684 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1684

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish 
 a vehicle summer meal delivery pilot program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 18, 2023

  Mr. Merkley 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 establish 
 a vehicle summer meal delivery pilot 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 ``Feeding Our Rural Kids Act of 2023'' 
or the ``FORK Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. VEHICLE SUMMER MEAL DELIVERY PILOT PROGRAM.

    Section 13(a) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1761(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(14) Vehicle summer meal delivery pilot program.--
                    ``(A) Definition of eligible entity.--In this 
                paragraph, the term `eligible entity' means a service 
                institution.
                    ``(B) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish 
                a pilot program (referred to in this paragraph as the 
                `pilot program'), to be carried out beginning with the 
                first summer following the date of enactment of this 
                paragraph, to award grants to eligible entities to 
                purchase or retrofit vehicles to facilitate the 
                distribution of noncongregate meals made available 
                pursuant to this section.
                    ``(C) Priority.--In awarding grants under the pilot 
                program, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible 
                entities--
                            ``(i) with high rates of students who are 
                        eligible for free or reduced price lunches 
                        under this Act; and
                            ``(ii) that serve a high proportion of 
                        students from socially disadvantaged 
                        backgrounds.
                    ``(D) Geographic diversity.--In awarding grants 
                under the pilot program, the Secretary shall ensure, to 
                the maximum extent practicable, that eligible entities 
                receiving grants are located in diverse geographic 
                areas.
                    ``(E) Grants.--
                            ``(i) Term.--The term of a grant awarded 
                        under the pilot program shall be 1 year.
                            ``(ii) Maximum amount.--The amount of a 
                        grant awarded under the pilot program shall not 
                        exceed $100,000.
                            ``(iii) Administrative expenses.--An 
                        eligible entity awarded a grant under the pilot 
                        program shall use not more than 10 percent of 
                        grant funds for administrative expenses.
                            ``(iv) Report requirement.--Not later than 
                        1 year after receiving a grant under the pilot 
                        program, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
                        Secretary a report describing the use of the 
                        grant funds, including--
                                    ``(I) the number of entities that 
                                benefitted from the grant; and
                                    ``(II) the number of children 
                                served as a result of the grant.
                    ``(F) Technical assistance; best practices.--The 
                Secretary shall provide technical assistance to, and 
                share best practices with, eligible entities that 
                receive grants under the pilot program.
                    ``(G) Report.--Not later than 4 years after the 
                date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary 
                shall submit to Congress a report on the administration 
                of the pilot program, including a summary of the 
                reports received pursuant to subparagraph (D)(iii).
                    ``(H) Authorization of appropriations.--There is 
                authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 
                out the pilot program $1,000,000 for each year of the 
                3-year period beginning on the date of establishment of 
                the pilot program.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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