Title: Suspend School Meal Debt Act of 2020
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Suspend School Meal Debt Act of 2020
This bill prohibits each school food authority and local educational agency participating in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program from collecting unpaid school meal fees (including late fees associated with unpaid meals) 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.
Additionally, the Department of Agriculture must reimburse each school food authority and local educational agency participating in either program for unpaid meal fees (including late fees associated with unpaid meals) owed to the authority or agency as of the date of the enactment of this bill.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3651 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3651

To prohibit school food authorities and local educational agencies from 
 collecting unpaid school meal fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 7, 2020

   Ms. Smith introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit school food authorities and local educational agencies from 
 collecting unpaid school 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 of 
2020''.

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

    (a) Definition of Emergency Period.--In this section, the term 
``emergency period'' means the period beginning on the date of 
enactment of this Act and ending on the date that is 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) on January 31, 2020, with respect to 
COVID-19 is terminated.
    (b) Debt Collection Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, during the emergency period, a school food authority 
or a 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) may not--
            (1) collect unpaid meal fees (including late fees 
        associated with unpaid meals) under those programs; or
            (2) use a debt collector (as defined in section 803 of the 
        Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)) to collect 
        those unpaid meal fees.
    (c) Cancellation of Meal Debts.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
reimburse each school food authority and local educational agency 
participating in a program described in subsection (b) for unpaid meal 
fees (including late fees associated with unpaid meals) owed to that 
authority or agency as of the date of enactment of this Act.
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