[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3113 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3113

  To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell 
  National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and 
   lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining 
eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the 
                 poverty level, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 2023

 Ms. Porter (for herself, Mr. Payne, Mr. Carson, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. 
  Watson Coleman, Mr. Gottheimer, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Lee of 
  California, and Mr. Evans) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell 
  National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and 
   lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining 
eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the 
                 poverty level, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) In General.--This Act may be cited as the ``Expanding Access to 
School Meals Act of 2023''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act are as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
        TITLE I--REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES

Sec. 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts.
Sec. 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches.
             TITLE II--EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY

Sec. 201. Poverty level for free lunch.
Sec. 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid 
                            benefits.
Sec. 203. Retroactive reimbursement.
Sec. 204. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier.

        TITLE I--REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES

SEC. 101. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1758) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Repeal of Reduced Price Breakfasts.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the reduced price breakfast program is repealed 
and the Secretary may not provide reimbursements for reduced price 
breakfasts under this section.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or reduced price'' each place it appears;
            (2) by striking ``for a reduced price'' each place it 
        appears;
            (3) by striking ``or at a reduced price'' each place it 
        appears;
            (4) by striking ``for reduced price breakfasts'' each place 
        it appears; and
            (5) by striking ``and reduced price'' each place it 
        appears.
    (c) Further Conforming Amendments.--Section 4(b) of the Child 
Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the second 
                sentence; and
                    (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (C).

SEC. 102. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES.

    (a) In General.--The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 30. REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES.

    ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced price 
lunch program is repealed and the Secretary may not provide 
reimbursements for reduced price lunches under this Act.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--The Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or reduced price'' each place it appears;
            (2) by striking ``or a reduced price'' each place it 
        appears;
            (3) by striking ``or reduced-price'' each place it appears;
            (4) by striking ``and reduced price'' each place it 
        appears; and
            (5) by striking ``a reduced price'' each place it appears.

             TITLE II--EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY

SEC. 201. POVERTY LEVEL FOR FREE LUNCH.

    Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)) is amended--
            (1) by striking the third sentence; and
            (2) by striking ``130 percent'' and inserting ``200 
        percent''.

SEC. 202. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN RECEIVING MEDICAID 
              BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (5) by amending to read as follows:
            ``(5) Discretionary certification.--
                    ``(A) Free lunches or breakfasts.--Subject to 
                paragraph (6), any local educational agency may certify 
                any child as eligible for free lunches or breakfasts, 
                without further application, by directly communicating 
                with the appropriate State or local agency to obtain 
                documentation of the status of the child as--
                            ``(i) a member of a family that is 
                        receiving assistance under the temporary 
                        assistance for needy families program funded 
                        under part A of title IV of the Social Security 
                        Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
                            ``(ii) a homeless child or youth (defined 
                        as 1 of the individuals described in section 
                        725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
                        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)));
                            ``(iii) served by the runaway and homeless 
                        youth grant program established under the 
                        Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5701 
                        et seq.);
                            ``(iv) a migratory child (as defined in 
                        section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary 
                        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6399));
                            ``(v) an eligible child (as defined in 
                        paragraph (15)(A)); or
                            ``(vi)(I) a foster child whose care and 
                        placement is the responsibility of an agency 
                        that administers a State plan under part B or E 
                        of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 
                        U.S.C. 621 et seq.); or
                            ``(II) a foster child who a court has 
                        placed with a caretaker household.
                    ``(B) Agreements to carry out certification.--To 
                certify a child under subparagraph (A)(v), a State 
                agency shall enter into an agreement with 1 or more 
                State agencies conducting eligibility determinations 
                for the Medicaid program.
                    ``(C) Procedures.--Subject to paragraph (6), an 
                agreement under subparagraph (B) shall establish 
                procedures under which an eligible child may be 
                certified for free lunches under this Act and free 
                breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 
                of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773), without further application 
                (as defined in paragraph (4)(G)).'';
            (2) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ``or (5)'' both places 
        it appears and inserting ``(5), or (15)''; and
            (3) by amending paragraph (15)(A)(i) to read as follows:
                            ``(i) Eligible child.--The term `eligible 
                        child' means a child--
                                    ``(I)(aa) who is eligible for and 
                                receiving medical assistance under the 
                                Medicaid program; and
                                    ``(bb) who is a member of a family 
                                with an income as measured by the 
                                Medicaid program that does not exceed 
                                200 percent of the poverty line (as 
                                determined under the poverty guidelines 
                                updated periodically in the Federal 
                                Register by the Department of Health 
                                and Human Services under the authority 
                                of section 673(2) of the Community 
                                Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 
                                9902(2), including any revision 
                                required by such section)) applicable 
                                to a family of the size used for 
                                purposes of determining eligibility for 
                                the Medicaid program;
                                    ``(II) who is eligible for the 
                                Medicaid program because such child 
                                receives supplemental security income 
                                benefits under title XVI of the Social 
                                Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381-1385) or 
                                State supplementary benefits of the 
                                type referred to in section 1616(a) of 
                                such Act (or payments of the type 
                                described in section 212(a) of Public 
                                Law 93-66);
                                    ``(III) who is eligible for the 
                                Medicaid program because such child 
                                receives an adoption assistance payment 
                                made under section 473(a) of the Social 
                                Security Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) or 
                                under a similar State-funded or State-
                                operated program, as determined by the 
                                Secretary;
                                    ``(IV) who is eligible for the 
                                Medicaid program because such child 
                                receives a kinship guardianship 
                                assistance payment made under section 
                                473(d) of the Social Security Act (42 
                                U.S.C. 673(d)) or under a similar 
                                State-funded or State-operated program, 
                                as determined by the Secretary, without 
                                regard to whether such child was 
                                previously in foster care; or
                                    ``(V) who is a member of a 
                                household (as that term is defined in 
                                section 245.2 of title 7, Code of 
                                Federal Regulations (or successor 
                                regulations)) with a child described in 
                                subclause (I), (II), (III), or (IV).''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendments made by this section shall apply 
with respect to school years beginning on or after July 1, 2023.

SEC. 203. 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 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.''.

SEC. 204. INCREASE OF COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PROGRAM MULTIPLIER.

    Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)) is amended by striking clause (vii) and 
inserting the following:
                            ``(vii) Multiplier.--For each school year 
                        beginning on or after July 1, 2023, the 
                        multiplier shall be 2.5.''.
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