[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5892 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5892
To amend section 9A of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act
to require that local school wellness policies include a requirement
that students receive 50 hours of school nutrition education per school
year.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 13, 2020
Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Mr. Yoho, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Takano, Mr.
Payne, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Moore, Ms. Norton,
Mr. Vargas, and Mr. Peters) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend section 9A of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act
to require that local school wellness policies include a requirement
that students receive 50 hours of school nutrition education per school
year.
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 ``Nutrition Education Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Section 9A of the Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758b) requires all local educational
agencies participating in a program authorized by the Richard
B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.)
or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) to
establish a local school wellness policy for schools under the
jurisdiction of local educational agencies that include
nutrition promotion and education. However, there are no
specific requirements regarding the amount of time or type of
classes that school children have to spend or take in nutrition
education.
(2) Some schools include in their health education classes
some general information about nutrition, but there are no
specific guidelines of what the minimum requirements should be.
The mean number of hours spent on nutrition education in the
first 4 years of school is only 13 hours per year. A minimum of
50 hours per year are thought to be necessary to influence
behavior.
(3) Each local educational agency participating in a
program authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or the Child Nutrition Act
of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) should have a minimum
requirement for amount of time per year students should spend
on nutrition education and the type of instruction that should
be provided as part of such education.
SEC. 3. SCHOOL NUTRITION EDUCATION REQUIREMENT.
(a) Amendments.--Section 9A(b) of the Richard B. Russell National
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758b(b)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``nutrition promotion and
education, physical activity,'' and inserting ``physical
activity'';
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (5) as
paragraphs (3) through (6), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1), the following:
``(2) a requirement for 50 hours of school nutrition
education during a school year for each student at a school
under the jurisdiction of the local educational agency, which
includes instruction that--
``(A) is consistent with sections 9 and 17 of this
Act, and sections 4 and 10 of the Child Nutrition Act
of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773, 1779);
``(B) is offered at each grade level as part of a
sequential, comprehensive, standards-based program
designed to provide students with the knowledge and
skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
``(C) is part of not only health education classes,
but is also encouraged to be incorporated into
classroom instruction in subjects such as math,
science, language arts, social sciences, and elective
subjects;
``(D) includes enjoyable, developmentally
appropriate, culturally relevant, participatory
activities, such as contests, promotions, taste
testing, farm visits, and school gardens;
``(E) promotes fruits, vegetables, whole grain
products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy
food preparation methods, and health-enhancing
nutrition practices;
``(F) emphasizes caloric balance between food
intake and energy expenditure;
``(G) coordinates with school meal programs, other
school foods programs, and nutrition-related community
services;
``(H) teaches media literacy with an emphasis on
food marketing;
``(I) provides training for teachers and other
staff in nutrition education; and
``(J) establishes a process to evaluate the
effectiveness of the requirements of school nutrition
education described in subparagraphs (A) through
(I);''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
take effect at the beginning of the school year following the date of
the enactment of this Act, but not earlier than 3 months after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
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