Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019

To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the poverty-level, and for other purposes. 1. Short title; table of contents (a) In general This Act may be cited as the Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019 (b) Table of contents The table of contents for this Act are as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Title I—Repeal of Reduced Price Breakfasts and Lunches Sec. 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts. Sec. 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches. Title II—Expansion of Free Lunch Eligibility Sec. 201. Poverty level for free lunch. Sec. 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits. Sec. 203. Direct certification for children enrolled in CHIP. Sec. 204. Retroactive reimbursement. Sec. 205. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier. I Repeal of Reduced Price Breakfasts and Lunches 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts (a) In general Section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1758 (f) Repeal of reduced price breakfasts Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced price breakfast program is repealed and the Secretary may not provide reimbursements for reduced price breakfasts under this section. . (b) Conforming amendments The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 (1) by striking or reduced price (2) by striking for a reduced price (3) by striking or at a reduced price (4) by striking for reduced price breakfasts (5) by striking and reduced price (c) Further conforming amendments Section 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b) (1) in paragraph (1)— (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the second sentence; and (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (C). 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches (a) In general The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 30. Repeal of reduced price lunches Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced price lunch program is repealed and the Secretary may not provide reimbursements for reduced price lunches under this Act. . (b) Conforming amendments The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 (1) by striking or reduced price (2) by striking or a reduced price (3) by striking or reduced-price (4) by striking and reduced price (5) by striking a reduced price II Expansion of Free Lunch Eligibility 201. Poverty level for free lunch Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A) (1) by striking the third sentence; and (2) by striking 130 percent 200 percent 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits Section 9(b)(15) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(15) (15) Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits (A) Agreement Beginning not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019, each State agency shall enter into an agreement with the one or more State agencies conducting eligibility determinations for the Medicaid program. (B) Procedures Subject to paragraph (6), the agreement shall establish procedures under which an eligible child shall be certified for free lunches under this Act and free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 (C) Certification Subject to paragraph (6), under the agreement, the local educational agencies for a school lunch program under this Act and a school breakfast program under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 42 U.S.C. 1773 (D) Definitions In this paragraph: (i) Eligible child The term eligible child (I) is a member of a family that meets the income eligibility requirements under paragraph (1)(A); and (II) is enrolled in medical assistance under a Medicaid State plan (or a waiver of such plan) under title XIX of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1396 (ii) Medicaid program The term Medicaid program means the program of medical assistance established under title XIX of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1396 (E) Applicability This paragraph applies to— (i) in the case of the school year beginning July 2020, a school district that had an enrollment of 25,000 students or more in the preceding school year; (ii) in the case of the school year beginning July 2021, a school district that had an enrollment of 10,000 students or more in the preceding school year; and (iii) in the case of the school year beginning July 2022, and each subsequent school year, each local educational agency. . 203. Direct certification for children enrolled in CHIP Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b) (16) Direct certification for children enrolled in CHIP (A) Agreement Beginning not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this paragraph, each State agency shall enter into an agreement with the State agency conducting eligibility determinations for child health assistance under a State child health plan (or a waiver of such plan) under title XXI of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1397 (B) Procedures Subject to paragraph (6), the agreement shall establish procedures under which an eligible child shall be certified as eligible for free lunches under this Act and free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 (C) Certification Subject to paragraph (6), under the agreement, the local educational agency conducting eligibility determinations for a school lunch program under this Act and a school breakfast program under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 42 U.S.C. 1773 (D) Eligible child defined In this paragraph, the term eligible child (i) is a member of a family that meets the income eligibility requirements under paragraph (1)(A); and (ii) is enrolled in child health assistance under a State child health plan (or a waiver of such plan) under title XXI of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1397 (E) Applicability This paragraph applies to— (i) in the case of the school year beginning July 2020, a school district that had an enrollment of 25,000 students or more in the preceding school year; (ii) in the case of the school year beginning July 2021, a school district that had an enrollment of 10,000 students or more in the preceding school year; and (iii) in the case of the school year beginning July 2022, and each subsequent school year, each local educational agency. . 204. Retroactive reimbursement Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C) (1) by striking Except (i) In general Except ; (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II); and (3) by adding at the end the following: (ii) Retroactivity A local educational agency shall revise a previously submitted meal claim to reflect the eligibility approval of a child for free meals for the period that begins on the earlier of the following: (I) The first day of the current school year. (II) The date that is 90 days prior to the date of such eligibility approval. (iii) Meal claim defined In this subsection, the term meal claim . 205. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F) (vii) Multiplier For each school year beginning on or after July 1, 2020, the multiplier shall be 1.8 .

Summary: Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019 This bill revises program requirements under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program of the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Specifically, the bill eliminates the reduced price school breakfast and lunch programs to include prohibiting USDA from providing reimbursements for such programs, expands the income guidelines for purposes of determining eligibility for free school lunches and breakfasts to make families living at 200% of the poverty-level eligible (currently, families living at 130% or below are eligible), allows states to use Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) participation data to directly certify students for free school lunches and breakfasts, and increases the multiplier from 1.6% to 1.8% for purposes of determining reimbursement under the Community Eligibility Provision that permits schools in high poverty areas to serve all meals free of charge.