I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6977 
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit 
the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for meals. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 
Mr. NOLAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to prohibit the stigmatization of children who are 
unable to pay for meals. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Blame, No Shame 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) School nutrition programs help end child-
hood hunger and provide access to healthy, nutri-
tious meals. 
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(2) Access to school meals has been shown to 
improve educational outcomes. 
(3) A Federal, publicly funded universal school 
meal and nutrition program will eliminate any stig-
ma that accompanies free or reduced meals and stu-
dents unable to purchase meals due to insufficient 
account funds. 
(4) A Federal, publicly funded universal school 
meal and nutrition program would further allow 
schools to shift resources from paperwork to pro-
viding high quality meals. 
(5) A Federal, publicly funded universal school 
meal and nutrition program should be established. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON STIGMATIZATION OF CHILDREN 
WHO ARE UNABLE TO PAY FOR MEALS. 
Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(10)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(10) No physical’’ and insert-
ing the following: 
‘‘(10) 
DISCRIMINATORY
OR
STIGMATIZING 
TREATMENT OF CHILDREN BY SCHOOLS.— 
‘‘(A) DISCRIMINATION
BASED
ON
ELIGI-
BILITY.—No physical’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(B) STIGMATIZATION BASED ON LACK OF 
FUNDS OR DEBT.— 
‘‘(i) 
DEFINITION
OF
COVERED 
CHILD.—In this subparagraph, the term 
‘covered child’ means a child who— 
‘‘(I) is a student at a school that 
participates in— 
‘‘(aa) the school lunch pro-
gram established under this Act; 
or 
‘‘(bb) the school breakfast 
program established by section 4 
of the Child Nutrition Act of 
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); and 
‘‘(II)(aa) does not have funds to 
pay for a lunch or breakfast at the 
school; or 
‘‘(bb) has outstanding credit that 
was extended by a school food author-
ity for a lunch or breakfast at the 
school. 
‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS OF LOCAL EDU-
CATIONAL AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A local edu-
cational agency shall not permit— 
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‘‘(aa) the public identifica-
tion of a covered child, such as 
by requiring the covered child to 
wear a wristband or display a 
hand stamp to identify the cov-
ered child as a covered child; 
‘‘(bb) the stigmatization of a 
covered child, such as by pre-
venting such student from par-
ticipating in extracurricular ac-
tivities, school functions, or other 
school events due to the status of 
the child as a covered child; or 
‘‘(cc) any requirement that a 
covered child, because of the sta-
tus of the covered child as a cov-
ered child— 
‘‘(AA) perform chores 
or any other activity that is 
not required of students 
generally; or 
‘‘(BB) dispose of a 
lunch or breakfast after it 
has been served to the cov-
ered child. 
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‘‘(II) COMMUNICATIONS.— 
‘‘(aa) IN
GENERAL.—Sub-
ject to item (bb), a local edu-
cational agency shall require that 
any communication relating to an 
outstanding credit described in 
clause (i)(II)(bb) of a covered 
child shall be directed— 
‘‘(AA) to a parent or 
guardian 
of 
the 
covered 
child; and 
‘‘(BB) not to the cov-
ered child. 
‘‘(bb) 
LETTERS.—A 
local 
educational agency may permit a 
requirement that a covered child 
deliver a letter addressed to a 
parent or guardian of the covered 
child that contains a communica-
tion described in item (aa), sub-
ject to the condition that the let-
ter shall not be distributed to the 
covered child in a manner that 
stigmatizes the covered child. 
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‘‘(cc) SCHOOL
MEAL
COL-
LECTION
POLICY
DISTRIBU-
TION.—A local educational agen-
cy shall annually publish and 
make publicly available, including 
to school administrators, meal 
vendors, and parents and guard-
ians of children served by the 
local educational agency, the pol-
icy of local educational agency 
that includes— 
‘‘(AA) the policies, pro-
cedures, and guidelines of 
the local educational agency 
with respect to owed debts 
and insufficient funds to 
purchase meals; and 
‘‘(BB) 
available 
and 
relevant meals and food pro-
grams and resources. 
‘‘(C) 
REPORT
ON
VIOLATIONS.—Each 
State shall annually submit to the Secretary a 
report that includes— 
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‘‘(i) each violation of this paragraph 
by a school located in such State during 
the previous year; 
‘‘(ii) each violation of this paragraph 
by a local educational agency located in 
such State during the previous year; 
‘‘(iii) the amount of student meal debt 
accrued in each school and each local edu-
cational agency located in the State during 
the previous year; or 
‘‘(iv) the policies with respect to 
school meals used by each school and local 
educational agency located in such State. 
‘‘(D) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall 
establish and update a list of the violations of 
this paragraph on a public website of the De-
partment. 
‘‘(E) PENALTY.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law and subject to 
clause (ii), in the case of a local edu-
cational agency or a school served by such 
local educational agency that is reported 
under subparagraph (C) as having violated 
this paragraph, such local educational 
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agency shall, not later than 3 years after 
the date on which such report was sub-
mitted— 
‘‘(I) use administrative funds re-
served for school board or adminis-
trator activities to pay accrued school 
meal debt in the year prior to the date 
on which such report was submitted; 
and 
‘‘(II) forgive the outstanding debt 
of each covered child that accrued 
such debts. 
‘‘(ii) 
CERTAIN
FUNDS
EXCLUDED 
FROM
REDISTRIBUTION.—None 
of 
the 
funds that would otherwise be used by the 
local educational agency for salaries, bo-
nuses, workforce training and development, 
instruction of students, student resources, 
day-to-day school operations, or the benefit 
of school employees, teachers, and school- 
based administrator may be used under 
clause (i). 
‘‘(F) PROHIBITION.—In the case of cov-
ered child with outstanding debt with respect to 
school meals, a local educational agency may 
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not seek collection through a collection agency 
if such collection agency charges such covered 
child or the family of such covered child fees 
that are in addition to the outstanding debt.’’. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agri-
culture should ensure that— 
(1)(A) to the maximum extent practicable, an 
application for a free or reduced price lunch under 
the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is distributed— 
(i) in an understandable and uniform for-
mat; and 
(ii) by not later than July 1 each year; and 
(B) a local educational agency offers technical 
assistance to a parent or legal guardian to complete 
an application described in subparagraph (A); 
(2) each local educational agency coordinates 
with— 
(A) the local educational agency liaison 
designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the 
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)) to ensure that home-
less children and youths eligible to receive free 
lunches 
and 
breakfasts 
under 
section 
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