I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8477 
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma associated 
with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 21, 2022 
Ms. OMAR (for herself, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. MOORE of Wis-
consin, Mr. WELCH, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. RASKIN, 
Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of 
Illinois, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. CHERFILUS- 
MCCORMICK, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. BASS, Mr. CAR-
TER
of Louisiana, Mr. CORREA, Mr. CARSON, Ms. WILD, Mr. 
AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALO-
NEY of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. 
GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. POCAN, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Mr. NADLER, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, 
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. STANSBURY, 
Mr. JONES, and Ms. KELLY of Illinois) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to require mandatory certification for certain stu-
dents and reduce stigma associated with unpaid school 
meal fees, 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 ‘‘No Shame at School 
Act of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT. 
(a) MANDATORY CERTIFICATION.—Section 9(b)(5) of 
the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 
U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended— 
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘DISCRE-
TIONARY’’ and inserting ‘‘MANDATORY’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘any local’’ and inserting ‘‘a 
local’’; and 
(3) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 
(b) 
RETROACTIVE
REIMBURSEMENT.—Section 
9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 
(2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub-
clauses (I) and (II); and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu-
cational agency shall revise a previously 
submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi-
bility approval of a child for free or re-
duced price meals for the period that be-
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gins on the first day of the current school 
year. 
‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this 
subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means 
any documentation provided by a school 
food authority to a State agency in order 
to receive reimbursement for the cost of a 
meal served to a child by such school food 
authority.’’. 
(c) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID 
SCHOOL MEAL FEES.—Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard 
B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
1758(b)(10)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(10) REDUCING
STIGMA
ASSOCIATED
WITH 
UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 
‘‘(A) OVERT
IDENTIFICATION
PROHIB-
ITED.—A local educational agency or school 
food authority may not, based on the status of 
a covered child as a covered child— 
‘‘(i) physically segregate such covered 
child; 
‘‘(ii) overtly identify such covered 
child— 
‘‘(I) through the use of special 
tokens or tickets; or 
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‘‘(II) by an announcement or a 
published list of names; or 
‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize such cov-
ered child by any other means. 
‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY
DETERMINATION
BY 
LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any cov-
ered child who is a member of a household that 
owes a week or more of unpaid school meal 
fees, a local educational agency shall— 
‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify such 
covered child for free meals under para-
graph (4) or (5); or 
‘‘(ii) in a case where the local edu-
cational agency is not able to directly cer-
tify such covered child under paragraph 
(4) or (5), provide to the household of such 
covered child— 
‘‘(I) a household application and 
applicable descriptive material; and 
‘‘(II) written and oral commu-
nications to encourage submission of 
the application. 
‘‘(C) COLLECTION
OF
UNPAID
SCHOOL 
MEAL FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid 
school meal fees from a household, a local edu-
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cational agency or school food authority may 
not— 
‘‘(i) except as described in subpara-
graph (D), direct any communication re-
garding unpaid school meal fees to a cov-
ered child who is a member of such house-
hold; 
‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportuni-
ties (including grades and participation in 
extracurricular activities or local edu-
cational agency programs or services) 
from, or otherwise stigmatize, a covered 
child due to the status of the covered child 
as a covered child; or 
‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as such 
term is defined in section 803 of the Con-
sumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 
1692a)). 
‘‘(D) LETTERS.—A school food authority 
may require that a covered child deliver a 
sealed letter addressed to a parent or guardian 
of the covered child that contains a communica-
tion relating to unpaid school meal fees, subject 
to the condition that the letter shall not be dis-
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tributed to the covered child in a manner that 
stigmatizes the covered child. 
‘‘(E) ELIMINATING STIGMA IN MEAL SERV-
ICE.—In providing a meal to a covered child, a 
local educational agency or school food author-
ity may not, based on the status of the covered 
child as a covered child, dispose of or take away 
from the covered child any food that has al-
ready been served to such covered child. 
‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) COVERED
CHILD.—The term 
‘covered child’ means a child who— 
‘‘(I) is enrolled in a school that 
participates in the school lunch pro-
gram under this Act or the school 
breakfast program under section 4 of 
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1773); and 
‘‘(II) is a member of a household 
that owes unpaid school meal fees. 
‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 
The term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means 
outstanding fees owed by a household to a 
local educational agency for lunches under 
this Act or breakfasts under section 4 of 
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the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1773).’’. 
Æ 
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