[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9878 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9878
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require
mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma
associated with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 27, 2024
Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Bowman,
Ms. Brownley, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mrs.
Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Correa, Mr. Davis of
Illinois, Mr. Espaillat, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms.
Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr.
Khanna, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. McClellan,
Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Norton, Mr.
Peters, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mrs.
Ramirez, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Stansbury, Mr.
Takano, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs.
Watson Coleman, Ms. Wild, Ms. Williams of Georgia, and Mr. Amo)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require
mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma
associated with unpaid school meal fees, 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 2024''.
SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT.
(a) Mandatory Certification.--Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B.
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended--
(1) in the heading, by striking ``Discretionary'' and
inserting ``Mandatory'';
(2) by striking ``any local'' and inserting ``a local'';
and
(3) by striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall''.
(b) 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 first day of the
current school year.
``(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.''.
(c) 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
(including grades and participation in extracurricular
activities or local educational agency programs or
services) 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 require that a
covered child deliver a sealed 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--
``(aa) 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
``(bb) is a member of a household
that owes unpaid school meal fees; or
``(II) is eligible for a free or reduced
price lunch under this section.
``(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).''.
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