[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3171 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3171

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy eating and 
                   physical activity among children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 31, 2023

  Mr. Booker introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy eating and 
                   physical activity among children.

    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 ``Reducing Obesity in Youth Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) establish a program that will enhance the training and 
        knowledge of early care and education providers and influence 
        practices, policies, and environments in early care and 
        education settings to support healthy eating and physical 
        activity for children ages birth through 5, including by 
        addressing the growing threat of food insecurity;
            (2) provide support to States on ways to link early care 
        and education programs to nutrition supports;
            (3) monitor progress of healthy eating and physical 
        activity promotion in early care and education settings; and
            (4) identify emerging, and expand existing, approaches to 
        engaging families and parents of children ages birth to 5 in 
        healthy eating and physical activity.

SEC. 3. HEALTHY KIDS PROGRAM.

    Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

                     ``PART W--HEALTHY KIDS PROGRAM

``SEC. 399OO. GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE HEALTHY EATING AND PHYSICAL 
              ACTIVITY AND TO ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY AMONG CHILDREN.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in coordination with 
the Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and 
Families, shall award 5-year competitive grants to one or more eligible 
entities to improve healthy eating and physical activity and to address 
food insecurity among children ages birth through 5 years in early care 
and education settings.
    ``(b) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
subsection (a), an entity shall--
            ``(1) be--
                    ``(A) a nonprofit organization with expertise in 
                early childhood health and childhood obesity 
                prevention;
                    ``(B) an institution of higher education or 
                research center that employs faculty with relevant 
                expertise and has expertise in training early care and 
                education providers; or
                    ``(C) a consortium of entities described in 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B) that submit a single 
                application to carry out activities under the grant 
                jointly; and
            ``(2) submit to the Director an application at such time, 
        in such manner, and containing such information as the Director 
        may require.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--An entity shall use amounts received 
        under a grant under this section to work directly with 
        implementing partners, which may include States, territories, 
        Indian Tribes, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations, 
        to--
                    ``(A) create sustainable programs to train early 
                care and education providers through direct coaching 
                and peer-learning, access to quality technical 
                assistance, and professional development opportunities 
                that are focused on healthy eating, physical activity, 
                addressing food insecurity, and other topics that 
                support children's healthy development, as determined 
                by the Director;
                    ``(B) build State capacity through training, 
                technical assistance, and resources to integrate the 
                promotion of healthy eating and physical activity into 
                existing early care and education programs, systems, 
                and initiatives, including linking early care and 
                education programs to new and existing resources for 
                nutrition supports, with a focus on promoting equity; 
                or
                    ``(C) test innovative or evidence-informed 
                approaches to promoting healthy habits and healthy 
                child development in early care and education settings, 
                which may include linking early care and education and 
                health care providers, enhancing early care and 
                education staff wellness, enhancing access to quality 
                foods in the early care and education settings, and 
                engaging families of children ages birth to 5 years 
                served in the early care and education programs 
                supported by a grant under this section.
            ``(2) Implementing partners.--In selecting States, 
        territories, Indian tribes, municipalities, or nonprofit 
        organizations to be implementing partners under a grant under 
        this section, a grantee shall ensure that such partners, 
        collectively--
                    ``(A) serve populations that are racially, 
                ethnically, socioeconomically, and geographically 
                diverse; and
                    ``(B) represent a mix of rural and urban settings.
            ``(3) National independent evaluator.--From the amounts 
        appropriated to carry out this section, and prior to awarding 
        any grants under paragraph (1), the Director shall enter into a 
        contract with an external entity to create a single, uniform 
        process to--
                    ``(A) ensure that entities that receive grants 
                under paragraph (1) comply with the requirements of 
                this section; and
                    ``(B) evaluate the outcomes of the grant activities 
                carried out by each participating entity.
    ``(d) Tracking State Progress.--The Director may use amounts 
appropriated under subsection (f)(2) to enter into contracts with, or 
award grants to, institutions of higher education, nonprofit 
organizations, or other entities with relevant monitoring and 
surveillance expertise, for purposes of--
            ``(1) tracking State progress in obesity prevention 
        policies and practices of early care and education programs in 
        States where grantees are present; and
            ``(2) measuring changes in food security within exposed 
        groups.
    ``(e) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the completion of the 
grant program, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 
results of the programs, activities, and surveillance carried out under 
such grant program, including best practices and lessons derived from 
the experiences of grantees with respect to reducing and preventing 
food insecurity and obesity and overweight among children ages birth 
through 5 years in the early care and education settings.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `Director' means the Director of the Centers 
        for Disease Control and Prevention; and
            ``(2) the term `early care and education' means programs 
        and activities that serve children ages birth through 5 years 
        either through in-home or out-of-home settings, including 
        childcare programs, Head Start programs, family childcare, and 
        pre-kindergarten programs.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section--
            ``(1) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 
        2028; and
            ``(2) $1,700,000 for fiscal year 2024, to be used to track 
        State progress in obesity prevention and food security policies 
        and practices of early care and education programs in a 
        sentinel set of States as provided for in subsection (d).''.
                                 <all>