Title: Suspend School Meal Debt Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Suspend School Meal Debt Act
This bill directs the Department of Agriculture to reimburse each school food authority and local educational agency participating in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program for unpaid meal fees owed to the authority or agency as of the date of the enactment of this bill.
The bill also prohibits each school food authority and local educational agency from collecting unpaid meal fees or using a debt collector to collect such fees during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency. The prohibition ends 30 days after the date on which the public health emergency is terminated.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6430 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6430

To require that school food authorities and local educational agencies 
  not collect unpaid meal fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2020

  Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Haaland, Ms. Moore, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. 
 McGovern, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Nadler, 
Mr. Vargas, Ms. Norton, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Levin 
of Michigan, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Soto, Ms. Lee of 
California, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. 
Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Danny 
K. Davis of Illinois, and Ms. McCollum) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require that school food authorities and local educational agencies 
  not collect unpaid meal fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 ``Suspend School Meal Debt Act''.

SEC. 2. SCHOOL MEAL DEBT DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

    (a) Cancellation of Meal Debts Owed as of Date of Enactment.--The 
Secretary shall reimburse each school food authority and local 
educational agency participating 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) for the unpaid meal fees owed to such 
authority or agency as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Debt Collection Prohibition During Emergency Period.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall require 
that during the emergency period each school food authority and local 
educational agency described in subsection (a) may not collect unpaid 
meal fees or use a debt collector (as such term is defined in section 
803 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)) to collect 
such unpaid meal fees.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Emergency period.--The term ``emergency period'' means 
        the period--
                    (A) beginning on the date of the enactment of this 
                section; and
                    (B) ending 30 days after the date on which the 
                public health emergency declared by the Secretary of 
                Health and Human Services under section 319 of the 
                Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) with respect 
                to COVID-19 is terminated under such section.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
            (3) Unpaid meal fees.--The term ``unpaid meal fees''--
                    (A) means outstanding fees owed by a household to a 
                local educational agency or school food authority for 
                lunches under the Richard B. Russell National School 
                Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or breakfasts under 
                section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
                1773); and
                    (B) includes late fees associated with the 
                outstanding fees described in subparagraph (A).
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