[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 934 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 934

 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and 
  health of schoolchildren and protect the Federal investment in the 
 national school lunch and breakfast programs by updating the national 
  school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of 
         school meals to conform to current nutrition science.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 30, 2009

  Mr. Harkin (for himself, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
   Casey, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Brown) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and 
  health of schoolchildren and protect the Federal investment in the 
 national school lunch and breakfast programs by updating the national 
  school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of 
         school meals to conform to current nutrition science.

    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 ``Child Nutrition Promotion and School 
Lunch Protection Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) for a school food service program to receive Federal 
        reimbursements under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
        1771 et seq.) or the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), school meals served by the 
        program must meet science-based nutrition standards established 
        by Congress and the Secretary of Agriculture;
            (2) foods sold outside the reimbursable school meal 
        programs (including food and beverages sold in vending 
        machines, a la carte in cafeterias, school stores, and snack 
        bars) are not required to meet comparable nutritional 
        standards;
            (3) in order to promote child nutrition and health, 
        Congress--
                    (A) has authorized the Secretary to establish 
                nutrition standards in the school lunchroom during meal 
                time; and
                    (B) since 1979, has prohibited the sale of food of 
                minimal nutritional value, as defined by the Secretary, 
                in areas where school meals are sold or eaten;
            (4) federally reimbursed school meals and child nutrition 
        and health are undermined by the uneven authority of the 
        Secretary to apply nutrition standards throughout the school 
        campus and over the course of the school day;
            (5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the definition 
        of the term ``food of minimal nutritional value'' is the 
        national nutrition standard for foods sold outside of school 
        meals;
            (6) since 1979, when the Secretary defined the term ``food 
        of minimal nutritional value'' and promulgated regulations for 
        the sale of those foods during meal times, nutrition science 
        has evolved and expanded;
            (7) because some children purchase foods other than 
        balanced meals provided through the school lunch program 
        established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and the school breakfast program 
        established by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
        U.S.C. 1773), the efforts of parents to ensure that their 
        children consume healthful diets are undermined;
            (8) experts in nutrition science have found that--
                    (A) since the 1970s, obesity rates have tripled 
                among children ages 6 to 19;
                    (B) children's sodium intake is 214 percent above 
                recommended levels;
                    (C) 85 percent of children consume more saturated 
                fat than is recommended in the most recent Dietary 
                Guidelines for Americans published under section 301 of 
                the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research 
                Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341);
                    (D) over \2/3\ of all foods consumed by 
                schoolchildren are foods that are recommended for 
                occasional intake;
                    (E) type 2 diabetes, which is primarily due to poor 
                diet and physical inactivity, is rising in children; 
                and
                    (F) \1/4\ of children ages 5 to 10 show early 
                warning signs of heart disease, such as elevated blood 
                cholesterol or high blood pressure;
            (9) in 1996, children aged 2 to 18 years consumed an 
        average of 118 more calories per day than children did in 1978, 
        which is the equivalent of 12 pounds of weight gain annually, 
        if not compensated for through increased physical activity; and
            (10) the national estimated cost of obesity is 
        $123,000,000,000 a year, \1/2\ of which is paid through the 
        Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) and the Medicaid program under title 
        XIX of that Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.).

SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCHOOL NUTRITION STANDARDS.

    Section 10 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1779) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking the section heading and all that follows 
        through ``(a) The Secretary'' and inserting the following:

``SEC. 10. REGULATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary''; and
            (2) by striking subsections (b) and (c) and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(b) National School Nutrition Standards.--
            ``(1) Proposed regulations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall--
                            ``(i) establish science-based nutrition 
                        standards for foods served in schools other 
                        than foods provided under this Act and the 
                        Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
                        (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and
                            ``(ii) not later than 1 year after the date 
                        of enactment of this paragraph, promulgate 
                        proposed regulations to carry out clause (i).
                    ``(B) Application.--The nutrition standards shall 
                apply to all foods sold--
                            ``(i) outside the school meal programs;
                            ``(ii) on the school campus; and
                            ``(iii) at any time during the school day.
                    ``(C) Requirements.--In establishing nutrition 
                standards under this paragraph, the Secretary shall 
                consider--
                            ``(i) recommendations made by authoritative 
                        scientific organizations concerning appropriate 
                        nutrition standards for foods sold outside of 
                        the reimbursable meal programs in schools;
                            ``(ii) both the positive and negative 
                        contributions of nutrients, ingredients, and 
                        foods (including calories, portion size, 
                        saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, added sugars, 
                        and nutrients of concern identified in the most 
                        recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans 
                        published under section 301 of the National 
                        Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act 
                        of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341)) to the diets of 
                        children;
                            ``(iii) evidence concerning the 
                        relationship between consumption of certain 
                        nutrients, ingredients, and foods to both 
                        preventing and promoting the development of 
                        overweight, obesity, and other chronic 
                        illnesses; and
                            ``(iv) special exemptions for school-
                        sponsored fundraisers (other than fundraising 
                        through vending machines, school stores, snack 
                        bars, a la carte sales, and any other 
                        exclusions determined by the Secretary), if the 
                        fundraisers are approved by the school and are 
                        infrequent within the school.
                    ``(D) Updating standards.--As soon as practicable 
                after the date of publication by the Department of 
                Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human 
                Services of a new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for 
                Americans under section 301 of the National Nutrition 
                Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 
                5341), the Secretary shall review and update as 
                necessary the school nutrition standards and 
                requirements established under this subsection.
            ``(2) Implementation.--
                    ``(A) Effective date.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (ii), the proposed regulations under 
                        paragraph (1) shall take effect at the 
                        beginning of the school year following the date 
                        on which the regulations are finalized.
                            ``(ii) Exception.--If the regulations are 
                        finalized on a date that is not more than 90 
                        days before the beginning of the school year, 
                        the proposed regulations shall take effect at 
                        the beginning of the following school year.
                    ``(B) Reporting.--The Secretary shall submit to the 
                Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 
                the Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor of 
                the House of Representatives a quarterly report that 
                describes progress made toward promulgating final 
                regulations under this subsection.''.
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