[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4602 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4602
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit
the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 25, 2022
Ms. Smith introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to prohibit
the stigmatization of children who are unable to pay for school meals,
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. 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 paragraph heading, by striking ``Discretionary''
and inserting ``Mandatory''; and
(2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking
``may'' and inserting ``shall''.
SEC. 3. 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 redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I)
and (II), respectively, and indenting appropriately;
(2) in the matter preceding subclause (I) (as so
redesignated), by striking ``Except'' and inserting the
following:
``(i) In general.--Except''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(ii) Retroactivity.--
``(I) In general.--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.
``(II) Meal claim defined.--In this
clause, 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 that school
food authority.''.
SEC. 4. REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.
Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act
(42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by striking paragraph (10) and inserting
the following:
``(10) Reducing stigma associated with unpaid school meal
fees.--
``(A) 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 lunch provided under this Act or
breakfast provided under section 4 of the Child
Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).
``(B) 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 the covered
child;
``(ii) overtly identify the 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 the covered
child by any other means.
``(C) Eligibility determination by local
educational agency.--For any covered child who is a
member of a household that has unpaid school meal fees
for 1 consecutive week of meals or more, a local
educational agency shall--
``(i) attempt to directly certify the
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 the covered child under paragraph (4)
or (5), provide to the household of the covered
child--
``(I) a household application and
applicable descriptive material; and
``(II) written and oral
communications to encourage submission
of the application.
``(D) 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
(E), direct any communication regarding unpaid
school meal fees to a covered child who is a
member of the 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 defined in
section 803 of the Consumer Credit Protection
Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)).
``(E) 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.
``(F) 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 the covered
child.''.
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