[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8477 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8477
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
July 21, 2022
Ms. Omar (for herself, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Bowman, Ms.
Schakowsky, Ms. Adams, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin,
Mr. Welch, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Huffman, Ms.
Norton, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Tlaib, Mr.
Smith of Washington, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Lawson of
Florida, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Kuster, Mrs.
Watson Coleman, Ms. Bass, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Correa, Mr.
Carson, Ms. Wild, Mr. Auchincloss, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mrs.
Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Gallego, Ms. Pingree,
Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Takano, Ms. Barragan, Mrs.
Napolitano, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Clarke of New York, Ms. Velazquez, Ms.
Roybal-Allard, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Jones,
and Ms. Kelly of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
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 2022''.
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 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
``(II) is a member of a household
that owes unpaid school meal fees.
``(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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