I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3405
To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to increase the nutritional assistance
block grant for Puerto Rico; and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 5, 2001
Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA´ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to increase the
nutritional assistance block grant for Puerto Rico; and
for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Fair Nutrition for
American Citizens Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANTS AND ADMINISTRA-
TIVE FUNDS.
(a) CONSOLIDATED FUNDING.—Section 19(a)(1) of
the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2028(a)(1)) is
amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)—
(A) by striking ‘‘the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico’’ and inserting ‘‘governmental enti-
ties specified in subparagraph (D)’’;
(B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the
end; and
(C) by striking clause (iii) and all that fol-
lows and inserting the following:
‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2002, $1,356,000,000; and
‘‘(iv) for each of fiscal years 2003 through
2006, the amount provided in clause (iii), as ad-
justed by the sum of 2 percent and the percentage
by which the thrifty food plan has been adjusted
under section 3(o)(4) between June 30, 2001, and
June 30 of the immediately preceding fiscal year;
to pay the expenditures for nutrition assistance programs
for needy persons as described in subparagraphs (B) and
(C).’’;
(2) in subparagraph (B)—
(A) by striking ‘‘(B) The’’ and inserting
the following:
‘‘(B) MAXIMUM
PAYMENTS
TO
COMMON-
WEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The’’;
(B) by inserting ‘‘of Puerto Rico’’ after
‘‘Commonwealth’’ each place it appears; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR EXPENDITURES
FOR CERTAIN SYSTEMS.—Notwithstanding
subparagraph (A) and clause (i), the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico may spend not
more than $6,000,000 of the amount re-
quired to be paid to the Commonwealth for
fiscal year 2002 under subparagraph (A)
to pay 100 percent of the costs of—
‘‘(I) upgrading and modernizing
the electronic data processing system
used to carry out nutrition assistance
programs for needy persons; and
‘‘(II) implementing systems to
simplify the determination of eligi-
bility to receive that nutrition assist-
ance.’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(C) AMERICAN SAMOA.—For each fiscal
year, the Secretary shall reserve 0.4 percent of
the funds made available under subparagraph
(A) for payment to American Samoa to pay 100
percent of the expenditures for a nutrition as-
sistance program extended under section 601(c)
of Public Law 96–597 (48 U.S.C. 1469d(c)).
‘‘(D) GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY.—A govern-
mental entity specified in this subparagraph
is—
‘‘(i) the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico; and
‘‘(ii) for fiscal year 2003 and each fis-
cal year thereafter, American Samoa.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 24 of the
Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2033) is repealed.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), the amendments made by this section
take effect on October 1, 2002.
(2) EXCEPTION FOR EXPENDITURES FOR CER-
TAIN
SYSTEMS.—The amendments made by sub-
section (a)(2) take effect on the date of enactment
of this Act.
Æ