Title: No Shame at School Act of 2019
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
No Shame at School Act of 2019
This bill establishes requirements for the treatment of a child who is participating in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program and owes unpaid school meal fees.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3366 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3366

 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit 
the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2019

    Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Haaland, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Mr. Takano, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. Norton, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. 
   Espaillat, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Wild, Mr. Sean 
 Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Cohen, Ms. 
 Tlaib, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Lujan, and Ms. Johnson of 
    Texas) 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 prohibit 
the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``No Shame at School Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY CERTIFICATION.

    Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended by--
            (1) striking ``Discretionary'' and inserting ``Mandatory''; 
        and
            (2) striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall''.

SEC. 3. 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 following:
                            ``(i) In general.--Except'';
            (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 
        and (II); and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) Retroactivity.--A local educational 
                        agency shall revise a previously submitted meal 
                        claim to reflect the eligibility approval of a 
                        child for free or reduced price 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 
                                approval.
                            ``(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.''.

SEC. 4. 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 prohibited.--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
                                    ``(II) by an announcement or a 
                                published list of names; or
                            ``(iii) identify or stigmatize such covered 
                        child by any other means.
                    ``(B) Eligibility determination by local 
                educational agency.--For any covered 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 paragraph 
                        (4) or (5); or
                            ``(ii) in a case where the local 
                        educational agency is not able to directly 
                        certify 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 
                                communications 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 educational agency or school food 
                authority may not--
                            ``(i) except as described in subparagraph 
                        (D), direct any communication regarding unpaid 
                        school meal fees to a covered child who is a 
                        member of such household;
                            ``(ii) withhold educational opportunities 
                        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 Consumer 
                        Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)).
                    ``(D) Letters.--A school food authority may permit 
                a requirement that a covered child deliver a letter 
                addressed to a parent or guardian of the covered child 
                that contains a communication relating to unpaid school 
                meal fees, subject to the condition that the letter 
                shall not be distributed to the covered child in a 
                manner that stigmatizes the covered child.
                    ``(E) Eliminating stigma in meal service.--In 
                providing a meal to a covered child, a local 
                educational agency or school food authority 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 already 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 
                                program 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 the Child Nutrition Act of 
                        1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).''.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agriculture 
should ensure that to the maximum extent practicable, a school food 
authority that participates in the school lunch program under the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) 
or the school breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nutrition 
Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), shall provide to a child who requests a 
lunch or breakfast the same reimbursable lunch or breakfast provided to 
all students not certified to receive free school lunch or breakfast, 
regardless of ability to pay for the lunch or breakfast.
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