Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB253 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 253
5	5	To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to transition the Common-
6	6	wealth of Puerto Rico to the supplemental nutrition assistance program,
7	7	and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY10, 2023
10	10	Miss G
11	11	ONZA´LEZ-COLO´N(for herself, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr.
12	12	M
13	13	CGOVERN, Mr. MOYLAN, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill;
14	14	which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to transition
17	17	the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the supplemental
18	18	nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Puerto Rico Nutrition 4
23	23	Assistance Fairness Act’’. 5
24	24	SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOOD AND NUTRITION ACT 6
25	25	OF 2008. 7
26	26	(a) D
27	27	EFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Food and Nutri-8
28	28	tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is amended— 9
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31	31	•HR 253 IH
32	32	(1) in subsection (r) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 1
33	33	Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, and 2
34	34	(2) in subsection (u)(2) by inserting ‘‘, Puerto 3
35	35	Rico,’’ after ‘‘Hawaii’’. 4
36	36	(b) E
37	37	LIGIBLEHOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the Food 5
38	38	and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 6
39	39	(1) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘Puerto 7
40	40	Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’, 8
41	41	(2) in subsection (c)(1) by striking ‘‘and 9
42	42	Guam’’ and inserting ‘‘Guam, and Puerto Rico’’, 10
43	43	and 11
44	44	(3) in subsection (e)— 12
45	45	(A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting 13
46	46	‘‘Puerto Rico,’’ after ‘‘Hawaii,’’ each place it 14
47	47	appears, and 15
48	48	(B) in paragraph (6)(B) by inserting 16
49	49	‘‘Puerto Rico,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 17
50	50	SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF PLAN OF OPERATION; TECHNICAL 18
51	51	ASSISTANCE; DETERMINATION AND CERTIFI-19
52	52	CATION BY SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 20
53	53	(a) S
54	54	UBMISSION OFPLAN OFOPERATION.—On des-21
55	55	ignating an agency of the kind described in section 3(s)(1) 22
56	56	of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 23
57	57	2012(s)(1)), the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall have 24
58	58	60 days to submit to the Secretary of Agriculture (in this 25
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61	61	•HR 253 IH
62	62	Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) its plan of operation, 1
63	63	including a plan to transition to the supplemental nutri-2
64	64	tion assistance program under section 4(a) of such Act 3
65	65	(7 U.S.C. 5(a)) as a request to participate in the supple-4
66	66	mental nutrition assistance program under of the Food 5
67	67	and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.). 6
68	68	(b) T
69	69	ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—Within the 60-day pe-7
70	70	riod specified in subsection (a) and upon request from the 8
71	71	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Secretary shall provide 9
72	72	appropriate training and technical assistance to enable the 10
73	73	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to formulate a plan of oper-11
74	74	ation described in subsection (a). 12
75	75	(c) D
76	76	ETERMINATION BY THE SECRETARY OFAGRI-13
77	77	CULTURE.—Not later than 180 days after receiving a plan 14
78	78	of operation described in subsection (a), the Secretary 15
79	79	shall approve if such plan satisfies the requirements for 16
80	80	a supplemental nutrition assistance program State plan 17
81	81	in accordance with subsections (d) and (e) of section 11 18
82	82	of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020). 19
83	83	If the Secretary does not approve such plan, the Secretary 20
84	84	shall provide, not later than 30 days after disapproval, a 21
85	85	statement that specifies each of the requirements that 22
86	86	were not satisfied by such plan. 23
87	87	(d) C
88	88	ERTIFICATION BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRI-24
89	89	CULTURE.—If the Secretary approves the plan submitted 25
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92	92	•HR 253 IH
93	93	by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico under subsection 1
94	94	(a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress, not later 2
95	95	than 60 days thereafter, a certification that the Common-3
96	96	wealth of Puerto Rico qualifies to participate in the sup-4
97	97	plemental nutrition assistance program as a State as de-5
98	98	fined in section 3(r) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 6
99	99	2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(r)). 7
100	100	SEC. 4. TRANSITION FROM THE CONSOLIDATED BLOCK 8
101	101	GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO. 9
102	102	(a) C
103	103	OVEREDPERIOD.—The Secretary may continue 10
104	104	to implement the then most recent approved consolidated 11
105	105	block grant specified in section 19(b)(1)(A) of the Food 12
106	106	and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028(b)(1)(A)) for 13
107	107	a period ending no later than 5 years after the effective 14
108	108	date of the amendments made by this Act, or on the date 15
109	109	the Secretary determines that the Commonwealth of Puer-16
110	110	to Rico no longer needs to operate the consolidated block 17
111	111	grant to complete the transition described in section 3(a), 18
112	112	whichever occurs first. 19
113	113	(b) R
114	114	EPORT.—For each year a plan is continued 20
115	115	under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the 21
116	116	Congress an annual report on the operation of such plan. 22
117	117	The Secretary shall include in such report information re-23
118	118	lated to increases in funding that are required to accom-24
119	119	modate the transition of the Commonwealth of Puerto 25
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122	122	•HR 253 IH
123	123	Rico from the receipt of block grant payments to the im-1
124	124	plementation of supplemental nutrition assistance pro-2
125	125	gram. 3
126	126	SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATED BLOCK GRANT FOR PUERTO RICO 4
127	127	AND AMERICAN SAMOA. 5
128	128	Section 19 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 6
129	129	(7 U.S.C. 2028) is amended— 7
130	130	(1) in subsection (a)— 8
131	131	(A) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting ‘‘until 9
132	132	the end of the period described in section 4(a) 10
133	133	of the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fair-11
134	134	ness Act,’’ after ‘‘(A)’’, 12
135	135	(B) in paragraph (2)— 13
136	136	(i) in subparagraph (A)— 14
137	137	(I) in clause (i) by striking 15
138	138	‘‘and’’ at the end, and 16
139	139	(II) in clause (ii)— 17
140	140	(aa) by inserting ‘‘, and end-18
141	141	ing at the end of the period de-19
142	142	scribed in section 4(a) of the 20
143	143	Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance 21
144	144	Fairness Act’’ after ‘‘thereafter’’, 22
145	145	(bb) by striking the period 23
146	146	at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 24
147	147	and 25
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150	150	•HR 253 IH
151	151	(cc) by adding at the end 1
152	152	the following: 2
153	153	‘‘(iii) subject to the availability of ap-3
154	154	propriations under section 18(a), for each 4
155	155	fiscal year beginning after the end of the 5
156	156	period described in section 4(a) of the 6
157	157	Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness 7
158	158	Act, 0.4 percent of the aggregate amount 8
159	159	specified in clause (i) and adjusted under 9
160	160	clause (ii), as further adjusted by the per-10
161	161	centage by which the thrifty food plan has 11
162	162	been adjusted under section 3(u)(4) be-12
163	163	tween June 30 of the penultimate fiscal 13
164	164	year preceding such effective date and 14
165	165	June 30 of the fiscal year for which the 15
166	166	adjustment is made under this clause.’’, 16
167	167	(ii) in subparagraph (B)(i) by insert-17
168	168	ing ‘‘ending at the end of the period de-18
169	169	scribed in section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico 19
170	170	Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act’’ after 20
171	171	‘‘thereafter’’, and 21
172	172	(iii) in subparagraph (C)— 22
173	173	(I) by striking ‘‘For’’ and insert-23
174	174	ing the following: 24
175	175	‘‘(i) For’’, 25
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178	178	•HR 253 IH
179	179	(II) by inserting ‘‘ending at the 1
180	180	end of the period described in section 2
181	181	4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition As-3
182	182	sistance Fairness Act’’ after ‘‘there-4
183	183	after’’, and 5
184	184	(III) by adding at the end, the 6
185	185	following: 7
186	186	‘‘(ii) For each fiscal year beginning 8
187	187	after the end of the period described in 9
188	188	section 4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition 10
189	189	Assistance Fairness Act, the Secretary 11
190	190	shall use 100 percent of the funds made 12
191	191	available under subparagraph (A) for pay-13
192	192	ment to American Samoa to pay 100 per-14
193	193	cent of the expenditures by American 15
194	194	Samoa for a nutrition assistance program 16
195	195	extended under section 601(c) of Public 17
196	196	Law 96–597 (48 U.S.C. 1469d(c)).’’, and 18
197	197	(C) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘year,’’ 19
198	198	and inserting ‘‘year ending at the end of the pe-20
199	199	riod described in section 4(a) of the Puerto 21
200	200	Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act, and’’ 22
201	201	after ‘‘year’’, and 23
202	202	(2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by inserting ‘‘and 24
203	203	ending at the end of the period described in section 25
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207	207	4(a) of the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fair-1
208	208	ness Act’’ after ‘‘year’’ the first place it appears. 2
209	209	SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 3
210	210	There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 4
211	211	this Act such sums as may be necessary until the end of 5
212	212	the period described in section 4(a). 6
213	213	SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES. 7
214	214	(a) I
215	215	NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 8
216	216	(b), this Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment 9
217	217	of this Act. 10
218	218	(b) E
219	219	FFECTIVEDATE OF AMENDMENTS.—The 11
220	220	amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 12
221	221	1 of the 1st fiscal year that begins 1 year after the Sec-13
222	222	retary submits to Congress the certification described in 14
223	223	section 3(d) of this Act. 15
224	224	Æ
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