WIC Healthy Beginnings Act of 2021

Bill: 117-s-3216
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]
Introduced: 2021-11-17
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Latest action: action_date: 2021-11-17
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-11-17
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>WIC Healthy Beginnings Act of 2021</strong></p> <p>This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to maintain a publicly available, searchable database that contains solicitations for infant formula bids under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).</p> <p>Under current law, state agencies must control infant formula costs in the WIC program through competitive bidding for infant formula rebate contracts. The bill requires state WIC agencies to provide USDA with open solicitations for these competitive bids to populate the database.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3216 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES November 17, 2021 Mr. Marshall (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a publicly available database of bid solicitations for infant formula under the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the WIC Healthy Beginnings Act of 2021 . 2. Database of bid solicitations for infant formula under the WIC program Section 17(h)(8)(A) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1786(h)(8)(A) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (xi) Database of bid solicitations (I) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this clause, the Secretary shall make available to the public on a website of the Department of Agriculture a fully searchable database that shall contain the information described in items (aa) through (dd) of subclause (II) relating to bid solicitations of State agencies for infant formula under the program. (II) State agencies In soliciting bids for infant formula under the program, a State agency shall submit to the Secretary, not later than 5 business days after the date of the bid solicitation, a description of the bid solicitation, including— (aa) the title of the bid solicitation and the State agency administering the bid solicitation; (bb) the website hyperlink and other information needed for the purpose of submitting a bid in response to the bid solicitation; (cc) the contact information and website hyperlink for the State agency administering the bid solicitation, for the purpose of gathering additional information relating to the bid solicitation; and (dd) the period during which bids are accepted or the due date for bids, as applicable, under the bid solicitation. (III) Publication Not later than 5 days after receiving a description of a bid solicitation under subclause (II), the Secretary shall publish the information on the database established under subclause (I). (IV) Guidance The Secretary shall issue guidance to implement this clause. (V) Liability limitation A State, State agency, or the Federal Government shall not be liable in a civil suit or claim in a State or Federal court based on the performance or failure to perform a duty, function, or activity required by this clause. .