[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 596 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 596

 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to reduce hunger, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 15, 2009

  Mr. Weiner introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to reduce hunger, 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 ``Economic Recovery Through Increased 
Feeding Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINGERPRINTING PROHIBITED.

    Section 11(e)(2)(D) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2020(e)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting the following before the 
semicolon at the end: ``, and the fingerprint or any other form of 
biometic testing of any member of a household shall not be required for 
the purpose of participating in the supplemental nutrition assistance 
program or for issuance of benefits for which the household would 
otherwise be eligible''.

SEC. 3. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY IN HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AREAS.

    Section 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2015(o)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2) by striking ``3 months'' and inserting 
        ``12 months'', and
            (2) in paragraph 4(A) by striking ``On the request of a 
        State agency, the Secretary may'' and inserting ``The Secretary 
        shall''.

SEC. 4. PARTICIPATION IN SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM IN 
              CITIES.

    (a) Reports.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall--
            (1) require the appropriate States to submit to the 
        Secretary reports identifying the levels of participation in 
        the supplemental nutrition assistance program by eligible 
        households located in the 25 largest cities in the United 
        States, and
            (2) submit to the Congress a report identifying the results 
        contained in the reports required by paragraph (1).
    (b) Activities To Increase Participation.--
            (1) Requirement.--If a State submits a report under 
        subsection (a)(1) that identifies a city in which the 
        participation rate of eligible households in the supplemental 
        nutrition assistance program is less than 85 percent, the 
        Secretary of Agriculture shall require such State to implement 
        practices to increase such participation rate.
            (2) Definition.--The term ``practices'' means telephone 
        interviews, educational public service announcements, town 
        halls, and other services that the State deems fit to increase 
        the participation rate to more than 85 percent of eligible 
        households.

SEC. 5. GRANTS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO BENEFITS.

    Section 11(t) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2020(t)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ``$5,000,000'' and 
        inserting ``$15,000,000'', and
            (2) in paragraph (5)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ``and'' at the 
                end,
                    (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``and'', and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) shall give special consideration to eligible 
                entities that are nonprofit organizations that provide 
                on site at the locations of such organizations online 
                application support to eligible households.''.

SEC. 6. ENCOURAGE BETTER NUTRITION.

    (a) EBT Card Access at Farmers' Markets.--The Secretary of 
Agriculture shall carry out a program to support the use of electronic 
benefits transfers for Federal nutrition programs at farmers' markets 
by means of installing or modernizing electronic benefit transfer 
equipment at such markets and by providing educational forums on the 
benefits of nutrition program participation at such markets.
    (b) Limitations.--Funds available to carry out this section--
            (1) may not be used for the ongoing cost of carrying out 
        any project, and
            (2) shall only be provided to eligible entities that 
        demonstrate a plan to continue to provide electronic benefit 
        transfer card access at 1 or more farmers' markets following 
        the receipt of such funds.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $25,000,000 to carry out this section.
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