Today's Law As Amended


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SB-364 Pupil meals.(2021-2022)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) No child in California should experience hunger, and every public school pupil should benefit from access to a healthy, locally procured and freshly prepared meal during the schoolday.
(b) In July 2021, California became the first state to enact and fund free school meals for all, whereby requiring all schools to offer two meals each schoolday and ending the practice of charging pupils and their families for meals served at school.
(c) On ____, 2022, Congress passed and President Biden signed the Build Back Better Act, which increased the amount of federal funding available for states to provide free school meals and established a time-limited, out-of-school time Electronic Benefit Transfer program to provide a meal-replacement food benefit to children during the summer months.
(d) With increased federal funding, California’s free school meal for all program and complimentary child nutrition programs are primed to take the next step to meet the increasingly urgent twin goals of climate and economic justice.

SEC. 2.

 Section 49557 of the Education Code is amended to read:

49557.
 (a) (1) The governing board of a school district and the county superintendent of schools shall make paper applications for free or reduced-price meals available to pupils at all times during each regular schoolday, and may also make an application electronically available online, provided that the online application complies with paragraph (3).  meets all federal School Nutrition Program requirements for free and reduced-price meal applications.  Pursuant to federal and state guidelines, the application shall contain clear instructions for families that are homeless or are migrants, and shall also contain, in at least 8-point boldface type, each of the following statements:
(A) Applications for free and reduced-price meals may be submitted at any time during a schoolday. schoolday, and shall be processed within 10 days of submission. 
(B) Children participating in the federal National School Lunch Program will not be overtly identified by the use of special tokens, special tickets, special serving lines, separate entrances, separate dining areas, or by any other means.
(2) (C)  A school district and the county superintendent of schools shall use all other paper applications it has for free or reduced-price meals before utilizing the applications pursuant to this subdivision. Commencing with the 2022–23 school year, each pupil is entitled to two free school meals each schoolday regardless of their free and reduced-price meal eligibility status. 
(3) (2)  If a governing board of a school district, a county office of education, or a school food authority chooses to provide access to an online application for free or reduced-price meals pursuant to paragraph (1), the online application shall comply with all of the following requirements:
(A) Include a link to the Internet Web site  internet website  on which translated applications are posted by the United States Department of Agriculture, with instructions in that language that inform the applicant how to submit the application. The Legislature finds and declares that federal guidelines require school food authorities to accept and process these applications if they are submitted to the school food authority.
(B) Require completion of only those questions that are necessary for determining eligibility.
(C) Include clear instructions for families that are homeless or are migrants.
(D) Comply with the privacy rights and disclosure protections established by the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (Public Law 113-79) and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-277).
(E) Include links to all of the following:
(i) The online application to CalFresh.
(ii) The online single state application for health care.
(iii) The Internet Web internet web  page maintained by the State Department of Public Health entitled “About WIC and How to Apply,” or another Internet Web internet web  page identified by the State Department of Public Health that connects families to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.
(iv) The Internet Web site  internet website  of a summer lunch program authorized to participate within the city or school district.
(v) The internet websites providing information about Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, or the Better Out of School Time (BOOST) Nutrition EBT Program established in Chapter 10.2 (commencing with Section 18936) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(vi) The internet website of the local educational agency’s alternative income collection form described in subdivision (e).
(F) No An  online application for free or reduced-price meals shall be made available online or made  made  accessible online by a school district, a county office of education, or  a school food authority if the online application allows for the  authority, or a private third-party vendor shall not allow the  information provided by an applicant to be sold, shared, or  used by a private entity for any purpose not related to the administration of a school food program, or if the online application requires  as allowed in Section 49558, or require  an applicant to waive any right or to create a user account in order to submit the application. right. 
(b) The governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools shall formulate a plan, which shall be mailed  they shall make available upon request  to the State Department of Education for its approval,  during an administrative review,  that will ensure that children eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals and milk shall not be treated differently from other children. These plans shall ensure each of the following:
(1) Unless otherwise specified, the names of the children shall not be published, posted, or announced in any manner, or used for any purpose other than the federal National School Lunch Program.
(2) There shall be no overt identification of any of the children by the use of special tokens or tickets or by any other means.
(3) The children shall not be required to work for their meals or milk.
(4) The children shall not be required to use a separate dining area, go through a separate serving line, enter the dining area through a separate entrance, or consume their meals or milk at a different time.
(c) A private third-party vendor who violates subparagraph (F) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) or any other provision of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for a first violation and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for any subsequent violation.
(d) This section shall not prevent the use of information provided by a school meal applicant from being used by a governmental entity to increase access to a government-administered anti-hunger program as allowed by federal law, regulation, or waiver.
(e) (1) Each school district and county superintendent of schools may establish a secured internet website providing access to an online data collection form that can be used for purposes of collecting information necessary for the local control funding formula and the Community Eligibility Provision in Section 1759a of Title 42 of the United States Code as part of the annual enrollment process. This form shall be made available in all threshold languages and shall not request information that is not necessary for these purposes. Use of this form shall be voluntary for parents and guardians. The establishment and use of this form is allowable to the extent that it does not negatively impact the local control funding formula, as determined by the Superintendent pursuant to paragraph (3).
(2) On or before July 1, 2024, the department shall host a sample online data collection form for those local educational agencies that cannot implement an online data collection form described in paragraph (1) through their pupil and parent portals.
(c) (3)  When more than one lunch or breakfast or type of milk is offered pursuant to this article, the children shall have the same choice of meals or milk that is available to those children who pay the full price for their meal or milk. If the establishment and use of the online data collection form described in paragraph (1) undermines the local control funding formula, the Superintendent may provide a report or study, consistent with Section 9795 of the Government Code, to the Legislature detailing those impacts. 

SEC. 3.

 Section 10618.7 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

10618.7.
 The department shall seek all available funding for, and maximize participation in, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program established under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-127), as amended by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act (Public Law 116-159), the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), and the American Rescue Plan Act (Public Law 117-2).

SEC. 4.

 Chapter 10.2 (commencing with Section 18936) is added to Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

CHAPTER  10.2. Better Out of School Time (BOOST) Nutrition EBT Program
18936.
 (a) The Better Out of School Time (BOOST) Nutrition EBT Program is hereby established to prevent child hunger during regularly scheduled summer breaks.
(b) A pupil is eligible for benefits under the BOOST Nutrition EBT Program if they meet one of the following criteria:
(1) They receive benefits under the Medi-Cal program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3).
(2) They receive benefits under the CalFresh program (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6).
(3) They receive benefits under the CalWORKs program (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3).
(4) They are in foster care.
(c) The State Department of Social Services shall issue BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits to eligible pupils, in the amount described in subdivision (e), for each day during which a school campus is closed during a regularly scheduled summer break.
(d) When applicable, the department shall issue BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits to eligible pupils no later than seven business days before regularly scheduled breaks.
(e) The department shall set the amount of the daily BOOST Nutrition EBT benefit at the beginning of each school year in an amount that equals the reimbursement rate of a free breakfast under the federal School Breakfast Program under Section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1773) and a free lunch under the National School Lunch Program under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1751 et seq.).
(f) (1) Notwithstanding subdivisions (b) and (c), the department shall also issue BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits to any child or pupil who was eligible to receive benefits under the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program established under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-127), as amended by the federal Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act (Public Law 116-159), the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), and the American Rescue Plan Act (Public Law 117-2), and the state plan approved by the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, as of July 1, 2021, for the five-month period following the end of the P-EBT program.
(2) For the issuance of BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits pursuant to this subdivision, the department shall determine a child to be eligible if, in addition to the requirements of paragraph (1), they meet one of the following criteria:
(A) They receive benefits under the Medi-Cal program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3).
(B) They receive benefits under the CalFresh program (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6).
(C) They receive benefits under the CalWORKs program (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3).
(D) They are in foster care.
(g) (1) The department shall annually report to the Legislature on outcomes of the BOOST Nutrition EBT Program, including, but not limited to, both of the following:
(A) In each county, the number and percent of pupils receiving benefits, and the total benefits issued.
(B) Opportunities to improve program participation and program performance.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(h) BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits issued pursuant to this chapter are not subject to review under Section 10950.
(i) To the extent permitted by federal law, BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits issued pursuant to this chapter shall not be considered as income or resources in determining other public benefits.
(j) The implementation of this section is contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute for its purposes.
SEC. 5.
 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.