I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5308 
To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell 
National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and 
lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligi-
bility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the poverty- 
level, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 5, 2019 
Mr. RYAN (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. 
HASTINGS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. JACKSON LEE, and Mrs. 
HAYES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard 
B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate re-
duced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that 
the income guidelines for determining eligibility for free 
breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the pov-
erty-level, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ex-
panding Access to School Meals Act of 2019’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act are as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS AND 
LUNCHES 
Sec. 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts. 
Sec. 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches. 
TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY 
Sec. 201. Poverty level for free lunch. 
Sec. 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits. 
Sec. 203. Direct certification for children enrolled in CHIP. 
Sec. 204. Retroactive reimbursement. 
Sec. 205. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier. 
TITLE I—REPEAL OF REDUCED 
PRICE 
BREAKFASTS 
AND 
LUNCHES 
SEC. 101. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Child Nutrition 
Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1758) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(f) REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.— 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced 
price breakfast program is repealed and the Secretary may 
not provide reimbursements for reduced price breakfasts 
under this section.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Child Nutri-
tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it 
appears; 
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(2) by striking ‘‘for a reduced price’’ each place 
it appears; 
(3) by striking ‘‘or at a reduced price’’ each 
place it appears; 
(4) by striking ‘‘for reduced price breakfasts’’ 
each place it appears; and 
(5) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place 
it appears. 
(c) FURTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 
4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
1758(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 
second sentence; and 
(B) by striking subparagraph (C); and 
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph 
(C). 
SEC. 102. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 30. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES. 
‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re-
duced price lunch program is repealed and the Secretary 
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may not provide reimbursements for reduced price lunches 
under this Act.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Richard B. 
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 
seq.) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘or reduced price’’ each place it 
appears; 
(2) by striking ‘‘or a reduced price’’ each place 
it appears; 
(3) by striking ‘‘or reduced-price’’ each place it 
appears; 
(4) by striking ‘‘and reduced price’’ each place 
it appears; and 
(5) by striking ‘‘a reduced price’’ each place it 
appears. 
TITLE II—EXPANSION OF FREE 
LUNCH ELIGIBILITY 
SEC. 201. POVERTY LEVEL FOR FREE LUNCH. 
Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na-
tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)) is 
amended— 
(1) by striking the third sentence; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘130 percent’’ and inserting 
‘‘200 percent’’. 
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SEC. 202. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN RECEIV-
ING MEDICAID BENEFITS. 
Section 9(b)(15) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(15)) is amended to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(15) DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN 
RECEIVING MEDICAID BENEFITS.— 
‘‘(A) AGREEMENT.—Beginning not later 
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
the Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 
2019, each State agency shall enter into an 
agreement with the one or more State agencies 
conducting eligibility determinations for the 
Medicaid program. 
‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.—Subject to paragraph 
(6), the agreement shall establish procedures 
under which an eligible child shall be certified 
for free lunches under this Act and free break-
fasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 
of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), without further ap-
plication. 
‘‘(C) CERTIFICATION.—Subject to para-
graph (6), under the agreement, the local edu-
cational agencies for a school lunch program 
under this Act and a school breakfast program 
under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
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U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) shall certify an eligible 
child as eligible for free lunches under this Act 
and free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child 
Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), with-
out further application. 
‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eli-
gible child’ means a child— 
‘‘(I) is a member of a family that 
meets the income eligibility require-
ments under paragraph (1)(A); and 
‘‘(II) is enrolled in medical as-
sistance under a Medicaid State plan 
(or a waiver of such plan) under title 
XIX of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) 
‘‘(ii) MEDICAID PROGRAM.—The term 
Medicaid program means the program of 
medical assistance established under title 
XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1396 et seq.). 
‘‘(E) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap-
plies to— 
‘‘(i) in the case of the school year be-
ginning July 2020, a school district that 
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had an enrollment of 25,000 students or 
more in the preceding school year; 
‘‘(ii) in the case of the school year be-
ginning July 2021, a school district that 
had an enrollment of 10,000 students or 
more in the preceding school year; and 
‘‘(iii) in the case of the school year be-
ginning July 2022, and each subsequent 
school year, each local educational agen-
cy.’’. 
SEC. 203. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN EN-
ROLLED IN CHIP. 
Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘(16) DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN 
ENROLLED IN CHIP.— 
‘‘(A) AGREEMENT.—Beginning not later 
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
this paragraph, each State agency shall enter 
into an agreement with the State agency con-
ducting eligibility determinations for child 
health assistance under a State child health 
plan (or a waiver of such plan) under title XXI 
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‘‘(i) is a member of a family that 
meets the income eligibility requirements 
under paragraph (1)(A); and 
‘‘(ii) is enrolled in child health assist-
ance under a State child health plan (or a 
waiver of such plan) under title XXI of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397 et 
seq.) 
‘‘(E) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap-
plies to— 
‘‘(i) in the case of the school year be-
ginning July 2020, a school district that 
had an enrollment of 25,000 students or 
more in the preceding school year; 
‘‘(ii) in the case of the school year be-
ginning July 2021, a school district that 
had an enrollment of 10,000 students or 
more in the preceding school year; and 
‘‘(iii) in the case of the school year be-
ginning July 2022, and each subsequent 
school year, each local educational agen-
cy.’’. 
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SEC. 204. 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 amend-
ed— 
(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 meals for 
the period that begins on the earlier of the 
following: 
‘‘(I) The first day of the current 
school year. 
‘‘(II) The date that is 90 days 
prior to the date of such eligibility ap-
proval. 
‘‘(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 
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meal served to a child by such school food 
authority.’’. 
SEC. 205. INCREASE OF COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PRO-
GRAM MULTIPLIER. 
Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell Na-
tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)) is 
amended by striking clause (vii) and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(vii) MULTIPLIER.—For each school 
year beginning on or after July 1, 2020, 
the multiplier shall be 1.8’’. 
Æ 
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