I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5167 
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reduce 
stigma associated with unpaid meal fees, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 28, 2010 
Mr. ELLISON 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 reduce stigma associated with unpaid 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, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Meals Stigma 
Reduction Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 
(a) 
RETROACTIVE
REIMBURSEMENTS.—Section 
9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended to read 
as follows: 
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‘‘(C) DURATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as other-
wise 
specified 
in 
paragraph 
(3)(E), 
(3)(H)(ii), and section 11(a), eligibility for 
free or reduced price meals for any school 
year shall remain in effect— 
‘‘(I) beginning on the date of eli-
gibility approval for the current school 
year; and 
‘‘(II) ending on a date during the 
subsequent school year determined by 
the Secretary. 
‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu-
cational agency may revise a previously 
submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi-
bility approval of a child for free or re-
duced price meals for a period not to ex-
ceed a total of 90 days, beginning not ear-
lier than the first operating day of the cur-
rent school year and ending on the date of 
eligibility approval for the child for such 
school year.’’ 
(b) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID 
MEAL FEES.—Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell 
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National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758 (b)(10)) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(10) PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION AND 
PREVENTION OF STIGMA.— 
‘‘(A) OVERT
IDENTIFICATION
PROHIB-
ITED.—No physical segregation of or other dis-
crimination against any child eligible for a free 
meal or a reduced price meal under the school 
lunch program under this Act or the school 
breakfast program under section 4 of the Child 
Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) shall 
be made by the school nor shall there be any 
overt identification of any child by special to-
kens or tickets, announced or published list of 
names, or by other means. 
‘‘(B) REIMBURSABLE
MEALS
FOR
ELIGI-
BLE CHILDREN.— 
‘‘(i) CHILDREN ELIGIBLE FOR FREE 
MEALS.—Each child eligible for a free meal 
shall be provided the meal that is being 
provided under the school lunch program 
under this Act or the school breakfast pro-
gram under section 4 of the Child Nutri-
tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) on any 
given day, regardless of any unpaid fees. 
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‘‘(ii) CHILDREN
ELIGIBLE
FOR
RE-
DUCED PRICE MEALS.—Each child eligible 
for a reduced-price meal shall be provided 
the meal that is being provided under the 
school lunch program under this Act or the 
school breakfast program under section 4 
of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1773) on any given day, as long as 
the child pays the reduced-price meal fee 
that day, regardless of any unpaid fees. 
‘‘(C) SUBSTITUTE
MEAL
POLICIES
FOR 
CHILDREN
WITH
UNPAID
SCHOOL
MEAL 
FEES.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—A local edu-
cational agency that wishes to implement a 
substitute meal policy for children with un-
paid school meal fees shall develop a plan 
described in clause (ii) to ensure that the 
policy does not create stigma with respect 
to such children. 
‘‘(ii) PLAN DESCRIPTION.—The plan 
shall be approved in writing by the applica-
ble State agency and include an expla-
nation of— 
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‘‘(I) how the policy will be imple-
mented so that stigma is not created; 
‘‘(II) how staff will be trained to 
ensure that the policy is carried out 
correctly; and 
‘‘(III) how the affected house-
holds will be provided with assistance 
in establishing eligibility for free or 
reduced-price school meals. 
‘‘(D) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION.—For 
any child who is a member of a household that 
owes a week or more of fees for meals, a local 
educational agency shall— 
‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify the 
child for free meals under paragraph (4) or 
(5); or 
‘‘(ii) in a case where the local edu-
cational agency is not able to directly cer-
tify the child under paragraph (4) or (5), 
provide to the household— 
‘‘(I) a household application and 
applicable descriptive material; and 
‘‘(II) written and oral commu-
nications to encourage the household 
to submit the application. 
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‘‘(E) UNPAID
FEES.—The local edu-
cational agency may attempt to collect unpaid 
school meal fees from a household, but the local 
educational agency shall not— 
‘‘(i) take any action directed at a 
child who is a member of the household, 
including withholding educational opportu-
nities or stigmatizing the child; or 
‘‘(ii) use a debt collector (as such 
term is defined in section 803 of the Con-
sumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 
1692a)) to attempt to collect unpaid fees 
from the household.’’. 
Æ 
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