Suspend School Meal Debt Act of 2020

Bill: 116-s-3651
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN]
Introduced: 2020-05-07
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Cardiovascular and respiratory health

Consumer credit

Debt collection

Education programs funding

Elementary and secondary education

Emergency medical services and trauma care

Food assistance and relief

Infectious and parasitic diseases
Latest action: action_date: 2020-05-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-05-07
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Suspend School Meal Debt Act of 2020</b></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3651 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Suspend School Meal Debt Act of 2020 . 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.