I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 208 
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide greater access 
to the supplemental nutrition assistance program by reducing duplicative 
and burdensome administrative requirements, authorize the Secretary 
of Agriculture to award grants to certain community-based nonprofit 
feeding and anti-hunger groups for the purpose of establishing and imple-
menting a Beyond the Soup Kitchen Pilot Program for certain socially 
and economically disadvantaged populations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 4, 2013 
Mr. SERRANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide 
greater access to the supplemental nutrition assistance 
program by reducing duplicative and burdensome admin-
istrative requirements, authorize the Secretary of Agri-
culture to award grants to certain community-based non-
profit feeding and anti-hunger groups for the purpose 
of establishing and implementing a Beyond the Soup 
Kitchen Pilot Program for certain socially and economi-
cally disadvantaged populations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-hunger Empower-
ment Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 2009 the number of Americans facing 
hunger or food insecurity was 50,200,000, and 
17,200,000 children lived in these households. 
(2) According to the United States Department 
of Agriculture, as of January 2010 more than 
40,000,000 people participate in the Supplemental 
Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). In 2009 
on a monthly average, 33,700,000 people partici-
pated in this program, 11 percent of the United 
States population. SNAP, WIC, and the NSLP are 
the largest nutrition assistance programs and pro-
vided nutrition assistance to 57 percent of the food 
insecure households. 
(3) Administrative burdens involved in securing 
supplemental nutrition assistance benefits are par-
ticularly burdensome for working families. 
(4) In 2009 more than 16,200,000 people in 
the United States, of whom 5,700,000 were children, 
were forced to rely on soup kitchens, food pantries, 
and other charitable feeding programs. 
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the total number of supplemental nutrition assist-
ance offices that are open in the State nor a de-
crease in the number of hours such offices are open 
during regular work week; 
‘‘(2) to conduct verifiable activities to reduce 
the average wait time that applicants spend at sup-
plemental nutrition assistance offices or to reduce 
the average number of office visits required of appli-
cants; 
‘‘(3) to accept applications for supplemental nu-
trition assistance benefit by means of the Internet; 
‘‘(4) to upgrade computer systems and tech-
nology in ways that specifically increase access to 
the supplemental nutrition assistance program; 
‘‘(5) at the time of application, to provide appli-
cants with a checklist listing all documents required 
for a complete supplemental nutrition assistance ap-
plication.’’. 
(b) REDUCTION OF BURDENSOME AND DUPLICATIVE 
OFFICE VISITS; PROHIBITION
OF FINGERPRINTING.— 
Section 11(e)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 2020(e)(2)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A) by striking the period 
at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 
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(2) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘In’’ and 
inserting ‘‘that in’’, 
(3) in subparagraph (D) by inserting the fol-
lowing before the semicolon at the end: ‘‘, and the 
fingerprint of any member of a household shall not 
be required for the purpose of participating in the 
supplemental nutrition assistance program or for 
issuance of benefits for which the household would 
otherwise be eligible’’, 
(4) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 
(D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively, and 
(5) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(C) that the State agency shall inform house-
holds, at the time of application, that— 
‘‘(i) household members are not required 
to appear in person at the time of application, 
or at any other time, unless— 
‘‘(I) expressly required by this Act; or 
‘‘(II) in accordance with clause (ii); 
and 
‘‘(ii) if the State agency has a basis to rea-
sonably believe that information provided by a 
household is incorrect or that a household has 
failed to provide information required for par-
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ticipation in the supplemental nutrition assist-
ance program, then the State agency shall— 
‘‘(I) provide to the household a writ-
ten statement notifying the household of 
such belief; specifying the factual basis of 
such belief, informing the household of the 
applicable information that is believed to 
be incorrect or missing, and instructing the 
household how to correct or to provide the 
appropriate information; and 
‘‘(II) not require any member of such 
household to appear in person unless either 
the household fails to provide the appro-
priate information or the State agency can-
not verify the accuracy of information the 
household provides in response to the re-
quest made under this subparagraph by 
the State agency;’’. 
SEC. 102. COMPARATIVE PROGRESS REPORT. 
Section 18 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 2027) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(g) The Secretary shall submit a single, unified, an-
nual report to the appropriate committees of the Congress 
on the comparative progress of States in improving access 
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to the supplemental nutrition assistance program. The fol-
lowing statistics shall be included in the report with re-
spect to each particular State: 
‘‘(1) The percentage of supplemental nutrition 
assistance program applications processed within the 
30-day period required by this Act. 
‘‘(2) The average number of days required to 
process expedited applications for supplemental nu-
trition assistance benefits. 
‘‘(3) The average number of days required to 
process regular applications for supplemental nutri-
tion assistance benefits. 
‘‘(4) The average number of office visits that 
each applicant makes to receive supplemental nutri-
tion assistance benefits. 
‘‘(5) Statewide negative errors rates. 
‘‘(6) The overall participation rate of house-
holds that are eligible to participate in the supple-
mental nutrition assistance program. 
‘‘(7) The information specified in paragraphs 
(1) through (6) for a particular geographical area in 
such State.’’. 
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TITLE II—ANTI-HUNGER GRANTS 
PROGRAM 
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Beyond the Soup 
Kitchen Grants Program Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 202. BEYOND THE SOUP KITCHEN PILOT PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.—The Sec-
retary shall establish a pilot program, to be known as the 
‘‘Beyond the Soup Kitchen Pilot Program’’, in accordance 
with this title. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the pilot program 
are— 
(1) to provide grant assistance to a primary 
community-based nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger 
group in each pilot community for purposes of allo-
cating subgrants to other community-based non-
profit feeding and anti-hunger groups in such com-
munity; and 
(2) to provide technical assistance grants. 
SEC. 203. SELECTION OF PRIMARY COMMUNITY-BASED 
NONPROFIT 
FEEDING 
AND 
ANTI-HUNGER 
GROUPS AND SUBGRANTEES. 
(a) GRANTS TO PRIMARY COMMUNITY-BASED NON-
PROFIT FEEDING AND ANTI-HUNGER GROUPS.—Under 
the pilot program and for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
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award not more than 30 grants to primary community- 
based nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger groups, in ac-
cordance with this section. 
(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for an award of a 
grant for a fiscal year under this section, a community- 
based nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger group shall sub-
mit to the Secretary an application that contains a de-
scription of how the applicant proposes to use the grant 
funds to implement the components of the pilot program 
listed in subsection (c) in the pilot community of the com-
munity-based nonprofit feeding and anti-hunger group. 
The application shall be submitted in such form, at such 
time, and containing such other information as the Sec-
retary may require. 
(c) PILOT PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—An application 
for a grant under this section shall contain the following 
components: 
(1) PROGRAMS COMPONENT.—A program com-
ponent that describes, with respect to a target popu-
lation of a pilot community and in accordance with 
section 204, programs designed for the following 
purposes: 
(A) To reduce hunger in such target popu-
lation. 
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