legislation: 98-s-2545
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| 98-s-2545 | 98 | s | 2545 | Nutrition Programs Reform Act | Agriculture and Food | 1984-04-09 | 1984-10-02 | See H.J.Res.648. | Senate | Sen. Helms, Jesse [R-NC] | NC | R | H000463 | 0 | Nutrition Programs Reform Act - Title I: Summer Food Service Program for Children - Amends the National School Lunch Act to eliminate local, municipal, and county government sites from participation in the summer food service program. Repeals the requirement that the Secretary of Agriculture and the States undertake activities to encourage participation in the summer food service program. Establishes income eligibility for participation of children in the summer food service program. Makes a child eligible for the program only if the child qualifies for free school lunches (current eligibility is based on the location of the summer food site within an area of poor economic conditions). Permits lunch only to be served at summer food service sites instead of lunch and either breakfast or a snack. Establishes summer food service reimbursement rates at the same level as those provided in the school lunch program for free lunches. Eliminates advance program payments to service institutions for the summer food service sites. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture, no later than April 15 of each year, to allocate among the States funds appropriated to carry out the summer food service program during such year. Declares that the amount of funds allocated and paid to a State for a year shall be the authorized operational level for the program in the State for such year, except the Secretary may reallocate funds periodically if it is determined that a State is unable to spend its allocation of funds during such year. (Ends the entitlement status of the program, subjecting it to annual authorization and appropriations.) Permits a State agency, if the amount of funds allocated and paid to a State for a year is insufficient to permit the agency to make payments to service institutions within the State, to ratably reduce such payments to the extent necessary to insure that the total amount of such payments does not exceed the amount of allocated funds. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1985 for the summer food service program. Eliminates the requirement that the Federal Government operate the summer food service program in jurisdictions that do not do so through State administration. Title II: Special Supplemental Food Program (WIC) - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to eliminate outreach programs as a requirement for State and local WIC agencies. Eliminates outreach programs and start-up costs as allowable administrative expenses. Substitutes "medical equipment" in general as an allowable administrative expense in lieu of specified medical equipment. Limits the definition of children for the purposes of such Act to any child who is not receiving meals under the child care food program. Eliminates references to cultural eating patterns as a factor which health professional authorities must consider in prescribing supplemental foods or a factor to be taken into consideration in nutrition education. Permits the Secretary of Agriculture to require that, in order to be eligible to participate in the WIC program, a State agency must provide assistance under the program to at least a minimum number of participants established by the Secretary. Eliminates the requirement that the State provide local agencies with funds immediately upon their application to participate in the WIC program. Permits States to reduce ratably the amount of food provided to program participants, except that such reductions to any participant may not exceed 20 percent. Prohibits the operation of a WIC program in the same geographic area as the commodity supplemental food program. Provides for the proration of the first month's benefits based on the date of application for participation in the WIC program. Requires the Secretary, in establishing the nutritional risk criteria, to assign the highest priority to pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants at nutritional risk. Requires the Secretary to report annually to Congress on the income, nutritional risk, and other appropriate characteristics of participants in the program and such other matters relating to participation in the program as the Secretary considers appropriate. Requires State agencies to submit such financial reports and participation data to the Secretary as the Secretary requires (currently, such reports must be filed monthly). Requires WIC recipients to furnish a social security number as a condition of eligibility. Eliminates certain requirements with respect to nutrition education services, including precise Federal standards and mandatory State training of nutrition educators. Eliminates the list of information which currently must be included in a State's plan of operation. Permits the Secretary to provide guidance to a State agency on information to be included in a plan. Permits a State agency to submit only those parts of a plan which differ from previous plans. Provides for optional instead of required public hearings on the State's plan of operation and administration. Eliminates special requirements imposed on State agencies with regard to migrant households. Extends from 20 to 30 days the processing time for applications to the Secretary before an applicant must be notified of a determination. Eliminates the existing requirement that the Secretary prescribe operating standards for State agencies. Repeals the requirement that States provide nutrition education and other material in languages other than English. Requires a State agency to establish a system to assure than an individual does not receive benefits in more than one jurisdiction. Provides that a retail store which is disqualified from participation in the food stamp program shall also be ineligible to participate in the WIC program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1985. Reduces from 20 to 15 percent the amount of the funds provided under the WIC program for State and local administrative expenses. Eliminates the requirement that a certain percentage of funds be used for nutrition education. Requires the Secretary, in making allocations among the States, to allocate at least 50 percent of the funds on the basis of the weighted average of the number of program participants in each State who are in the various nutritional risk categories, with greater weight placed on program participants who face higher nutritional risk. Permits up to three percent of the funds allocated to a State to be carried over for use in the next fiscal year. Title III: Other Nutrition Programs - Amends the National School Lunch Act to extend through FY 1985 provisions to furnish commodities to certain child nutrition and elderly nutrition programs. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to terminate the Federal funding for State administrative expenses. Provides for nutrition education and training through FY 1985. Title IV: Technical Corrections - Makes technical and conforming amendments to certain Acts. Title V: Effective Date - Makes the amendments made by this Act effective on October 1, 1984. | 2025-08-29T17:38:20Z |