I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3416
To reauthorize and make improvements to child nutrition programs. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 30, 2003
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. KILDEE, 
Mr. OWENS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mrs. MCCAR-
THY of New York, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. KIND, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. WU, Mr. 
HOLT, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, 
Mr. CASE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, and Mr. 
BISHOP of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To reauthorize and make improvements to child nutrition 
programs.
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 ‘‘Healthy Children 
Through Better Nutrition Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
TITLE I—EXPANDING ACCESS TO CHILD NUTRITION 
Sec. 101. Sense of Congress. 
Sec. 102. Expanded eligibility for free meals. 
Sec. 103. Homeless children eligibility. 
Sec. 104. Lowering area eligibility threshold. 
TITLE II—IMPROVING PROGRAM QUALITY IN CHILD NUTRITION 
Sec. 201. Verification. 
Sec. 202. Expansion of direct certification of eligibility. 
Sec. 203. Eligibility for recipients of other means-tested benefits. 
Sec. 204. Summer Food Program. 
Sec. 205. School Breakfast Programs. 
Sec. 206. Commodities for School Breakfast Programs. 
Sec. 207. Child and Adult Care Food Program. 
Sec. 208. Meals and supplements for children in afterschool care. 
TITLE III—YEAR ROUND COMMUNITY CHILD NUTRITION 
PROGRAM 
Sec. 301. Community Child Nutrition Program. 
TITLE IV—PROMOTING NUTRITION QUALITY AND PREVENTING 
CHILDHOOD OBESITY 
Sec. 401. Operational responsibility. 
Sec. 402. Regulation of competitive foods sold within food service areas. 
Sec. 403. Nutritional reviews. 
Sec. 404. School meals improvement grants. 
Sec. 405. Increased emphasis on fruits and vegetables in commodities program. 
Sec. 406. Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program. 
Sec. 407. Nutrition education. 
Sec. 408. Fluid milk expansion. 
Sec. 409. Report on whole grains. 
Sec. 410. Time to eat. 
TITLE V—IMPROVEMENTS TO THE WOMEN, INFANTS, AND 
CHILDREN PROGRAM 
Sec. 501. Improving certification. 
Sec. 502. Required authorization. 
Sec. 503. Definition of nutrition education. 
Sec. 504. Limits on expenditures. 
Sec. 505. Decennial reviews. 
Sec. 506. Evaluation of inclusion of fruits and vegetables. 
Sec. 507. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE VI—BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS 
Sec. 601. Grants to support Farm-to-Cafeteria projects. 
Sec. 602. Buy American procurement training. 
Sec. 603. State technology improvements. 
TITLE VII—FOOD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS 
Sec. 701. Notice of irradiated food.
TITLE VIII—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 801. Reauthorization of programs.
TITLE I—EXPANDING ACCESS TO 
CHILD NUTRITION 
SEC. 101. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Federal child nutrition programs have 
proven to be an effective tool in helping children suc-
ceed in school. 
(2) Ensuring access to Federal nutrition pro-
grams by children, particularly those who are eco-
nomically disadvantaged, is essential for their edu-
cational, physical, and emotional development. 
(3) The Food, Nutrition and Consumer Service 
of the Department of Agriculture has stated that it 
believes there are problems with the certification 
process but have no data that allow for an exact 
measure of the extent to which ineligible children are 
approved to receive free or reduced-price meals. 
(4) Analysis of data from the Survey of Income 
and Program Participation (SIPP) demonstrates 
that, in fact, fewer children are approved to receive 
free or reduced price meals than are eligible. 
(5) Recent research by the Department of Agri-
culture clearly demonstrates that expanding the cur-
rent verification requirements for the school meal
programs does not deter ineligible children from re-
ceiving free or reduced price meals but does deny 
substantial numbers of low-income eligible children 
access to the meal programs. 
(6) Direct certification of children approved to 
receive food stamps and other means-tested pro-
grams is highly accurate, helps ensure program in-
tegrity, and enhances access to the Federal nutrition 
programs. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that—
(1) the use of direct certification for eligibility 
for child nutrition programs should be expanded and 
enhanced; and 
(2) Congress should not enact any nationwide 
increase in income verification until a rigorous study 
of the extent of certification inaccuracy is conducted 
and until pilot programs are conducted and evalu-
ated to identify the most effective ways to improve 
program integrity without harming eligible children. 
SEC. 102. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR FREE MEALS. 
Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking the last sen-
tence of such paragraph; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(8) DEFINITION
OF
REDUCED
PRICE.—For 
purposes of this subsection, the term ‘reduced price’ 
means free.’’. 
SEC. 103. HOMELESS CHILDREN ELIGIBILITY. 
Section 9(b)(6)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na-
tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(6)(A)) is 
amended—
(1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘or’’; 
(2) in clause (iii), by striking the period and in-
serting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by inserting after clause (iii) the following 
new clause: 
‘‘(iv) a homeless child or youth (as de-
fined in section 725(2) of the McKinney-
Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
11434a)).’’. 
SEC. 104. LOWERING AREA ELIGIBILITY THRESHOLD. 
(a) CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAMS.—
Section 17(f)(3) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766(f)(3)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)(ii)(I), by striking ‘‘50 
percent’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘40 
percent’’; and
with respect to such applications on the 
basis of such verification. The sample se-
lected for verification shall consist of ei-
ther: 
‘‘(I) The lesser of 3,000 or 3 per-
cent of approved applications selected 
at random by the school food author-
ity from all approved applications; or 
‘‘(II) The lesser of 1,000 or 1 
percent of all approved applications 
selected from applications that indi-
cate monthly income that is within 
$100, or annual income that is within 
$1,200, of the income eligibility limi-
tation for free or reduced price meals, 
plus the lesser of 500 or one half of 
1 percent of approved applications 
that provided a case number in lieu of 
income information in accordance with 
paragraph (6) of this subsection se-
lected from those approved applica-
tions that provided a case number in 
lieu of income information in accord-
ance with paragraph (6) of this sub-
section.’’.
SEC. 202. EXPANSION OF DIRECT CERTIFICATION OF ELIGI-
BILITY. 
(a) 
DIRECT
CERTIFICATION
THROUGH
FOOD 
STAMPS OR TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMI-
LIES.—Section 9(b)(2)(C)(ii) of the Richard B. Russell 
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(2)(C)(ii)) 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(ii) 
DIRECT
CERTIFICATION 
THROUGH FOOD STAMPS OR TEMPORARY 
ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES.—
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—Each State 
agency shall enter into an agreement 
with the State agency conducting eli-
gibility determinations for the food 
stamp program established under the 
Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 
2011 et seq.) and eligibility deter-
minations for the State program fund-
ed under part A of title IV of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et 
seq.). 
‘‘(II) PROCEDURES.—Subject to 
clause (iv), the agreement shall estab-
lish procedures under which a child 
who is a member of a household re-
ceiving assistance under the programs
referred to in subclause (I) shall be 
certified as eligible for free or reduced 
price meals under this Act, without 
further application. 
‘‘(III) CERTIFICATION.—Subject 
to clause (iv), under the agreement, 
the local educational agency con-
ducting eligibility determinations for a 
school meal program conducted under 
this Act shall certify a child who is a 
member of a household receiving as-
sistance under the food stamp pro-
gram established under the Food 
Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 
seq.) or under the State program 
funded under part A of title IV of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et 
seq.) as eligible for free meals under 
this Act without further application. 
‘‘(IV) NOTICE.—The appropriate 
local educational agency shall provide 
to all students biannually who are 
members of a household receiving as-
sistance under the programs referred 
to in subclause (I), notification that
any school-aged child in that house-
hold is eligible for free lunches or 
breakfasts.’’. 
(b) DIRECT
CERTIFICATION
THROUGH
OTHER 
MEANS-TESTED PROGRAMS.—Section 9(b)(2)(C) of the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
1758(b)(2)(C)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating clauses (iii) through (vii) 
as clauses (iv) through (viii), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after clause (ii) the following 
new clause: 
‘‘(iii) 
DIRECT
CERTIFICATION 
THROUGH
OTHER
MEANS-TESTED
PRO-
GRAMS.—(I) Any school food authority 
may certify any child as eligible for free 
lunches or breakfasts, without further ap-
plication, by directly communicating with 
the appropriate Federal, State, or local 
agency and obtaining from that agency 
documentation of such child’s status as 
a—
‘‘(aa) member of a household 
that receives medical assistance under 
title XIX of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) in a State in
which the income eligibility limit de-
scribed in section 2105(d)(1) of such 
Act is no higher than 185 percent of 
the income official poverty line as 
specified in section 1902(1)(2)(A) of 
such Act; 
‘‘(bb) member of a household 
that receives child health assistance 
under title XXI of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.) in a 
State in which the income eligibility 
limit for school-age children under 
section 2102(b)(1) of such Act is no 
higher than 185 percent of the appli-
cable family size income levels con-
tained in the nonfarm income poverty 
guidelines prescribed by the Office of 
Management and Budget as applied 
by the State; 
‘‘(cc) member of a household that 
receives benefits through any means-
tested public benefit program that 
meets criteria established by the Sec-
retary, which criteria shall include 
that the program has an income eligi-