Amendment

Section 5 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended by adding at the end the following:

(o)

Employment and training data grants

The Secretary is authorized to award grants to State agencies, on a competitive basis, for the purpose of creating and strengthening longitudinal administrative databases and associated resources for the purpose of strengthening program quality, reducing burden, advancing equity, protecting privacy, and improving transparency in supplemental nutrition and assistance program employment and training programs.(1)

Award basis

The Secretary shall award grants on a competitive basis and in a manner consistent with the following priorities:(A)Encouraging participation among States that have not yet received such grants and among those with the greatest needs in terms of data infrastructure.(B)Strengthening effectiveness in meeting the purposes of section 6(d)(4)(A)(i).(C)Facilitating co-enrollment and coordination of services between employment and training programs offered under this Act and other federally-supported workforce development programs, such as those authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) and the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Public Law 115–224; 132 Stat. 1563) and the amendments made by that Act.(D)Participating in and contributing data to the State’s linked longitudinal data system, including submitting data that when linked with K–12, postsecondary, and workforce development data, provides the State with the ability to create more robust tools and analytics.(E)Encouraging the use of non-Federal contributions to improve State data infrastructure and related resources.(F)Enabling research and program improvement activities.(G)Other priorities as determined by the Secretary.(2)

Privacy and security standards

Data supported by this subsection shall be—(A)used only for the purpose described in this subsection;(B)exempted from the disclosure requirements of section 552(a) of title 5 of the United States Code pursuant to section 552(b)(3) of such title, to the extent such information is obtained or received by the Secretary;(C) used in a manner that protects the identity and location of an individual that is an applicant for, or recipient of, supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits; and(D)shall meet security standards as determined by the Secretary.(3)

Supplement not supplant

Funds made available under this subsection shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, other State or local funds used for developing State data systems.(4)

Authorization of appropriations

Of the funds available under section 18, the Secretary shall use to carry out this subsection $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028.(5)

Administrative costs

The Secretary shall reserve not more than 20 percent of the funds made available under paragraph (4) for the provision of technical assistance to support the implementation of these Grants.(6)

Reports

Not later than 3 years after the effective date of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a report regarding implementation of this subsection that, includes the following information.(A)The number of grants awarded, a list of recipients, and the amount of funds awarded.(B)A description of recipients’ use of the grant funds.(C)An analysis of the impact of receiving such grants on improving the effectiveness of State employment and training programs in meeting the purposes of section 6(d)(4)(A)(i).

GAO report

Not later than 1 year after funds are made available to carry out section 5(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(o)), the Comptroller General of the United States shall—(1)examine and review the implementation of such section, including an examination of—(A)co-enrollment strategies and related best practices that maximize participant eligibility using linked and integrated data;(B)an examination and distillation of best practices related to the coordination and braiding of funds that improve the quality of employment and training programs implemented under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008; and(C)additional issues and impact that access to linked and integrated databases and the development of data exchange agreements have on the participant and provider outcomes within employment and training programs implemented under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008;(2)develop recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture on any changes that should be made to improve such data grants; and(3)prepare and submit a report on the findings and recommendations based on the examination made under paragraph (1), and recommendations received, under paragraph (2), to—(A)the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate; and(B)the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives.