Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB739 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 739
5	5	To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to expand
6	6	the use of salad bars in schools.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY24, 2025
9	9	Ms. W
10	10	ILSONof Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to
11	11	the Committee on Education and Workforce
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch
14	14	Act to expand the use of salad bars in schools.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Salad Bars in Schools 4
19	19	Expansion Act’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
21	21	Congress finds the following: 7
22	22	(1) In the United States, one-third of all school- 8
23	23	aged children are overweight or obese and very few 9
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26	26	•HR 739 IH
27	27	eat the daily amount of fruits and vegetables rec-1
28	28	ommended by national health authorities. 2
29	29	(2) On average, more than 30 million children 3
30	30	participate in the National School Lunch Program 4
31	31	daily, with more than 70 percent qualifying for free 5
32	32	or reduced-price meals based on family household in-6
33	33	come. 7
34	34	(3) Improving the healthfulness of school meals, 8
35	35	including serving more fruits and vegetables, will im-9
36	36	prove children’s eating habits and their health. The 10
37	37	Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that 11
38	38	children ‘‘make half their plate fruits and vegeta-12
39	39	bles’’ at each meal. 13
40	40	(4) Research indicates that school salad bars 14
41	41	are an effective strategy to increase children’s con-15
42	42	sumption of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. 16
43	43	(5) Salad bars are one of the easiest ways for 17
44	44	school food authorities to meet the new school lunch 18
45	45	nutrition standards that require serving a fruit and 19
46	46	a vegetable every day, a colorful variety of vegetables 20
47	47	every week, and that students select at least one-half 21
48	48	cup of a fruit or a vegetable at lunch. 22
49	49	(6) Salad bars are effective in elementary, mid-23
50	50	dle, and high school, they empower students to try 24
51	51	new fruits and vegetables and are a tangible example 25
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54	54	•HR 739 IH
55	55	of a school’s commitment to wellness and healthier 1
56	56	school meals. 2
57	57	SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF SALAD BARS. 3
58	58	Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School 4
59	59	Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the 5
60	60	end the following: 6
61	61	‘‘(l) E
62	62	XPANSION OFSALADBARS.— 7
63	63	‘‘(1) M
64	64	ARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS 8
65	65	PLAN.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 9
66	66	enactment of the Salad Bars in Schools Expansion 10
67	67	Act, the Secretary shall establish and implement a 11
68	68	plan to promote the use of salad bars in schools par-12
69	69	ticipating in the school lunch program established 13
70	70	under this Act. 14
71	71	‘‘(2) T
72	72	RAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .— 15
73	73	In carrying out the plan described in paragraph (1), 16
74	74	the Secretary shall provide training and technical as-17
75	75	sistance to eligible entities to assist the entities in 18
76	76	establishing salad bars in schools. Such training and 19
77	77	technical assistance may include— 20
78	78	‘‘(A) webinars; 21
79	79	‘‘(B) training workshops; 22
80	80	‘‘(C) implementation resources; 23
81	81	‘‘(D) nutrition education; and 24
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84	84	•HR 739 IH
85	85	‘‘(E) strategies for parent engagement and 1
86	86	to encourage collaboration with allied organiza-2
87	87	tions and partners. 3
88	88	‘‘(3) G
89	89	RANT PROGRAM.— 4
90	90	‘‘(A) I
91	91	N GENERAL.—In carrying out the 5
92	92	plan described in paragraph (1), the Secretary 6
93	93	shall establish a grant program under which the 7
94	94	Secretary shall provide grants, on a competitive 8
95	95	basis, to eligible entities selected under sub-9
96	96	paragraph (C). 10
97	97	‘‘(B) U
98	98	SE OF FUNDS.—Each eligible entity 11
99	99	receiving a grant under this subsection shall use 12
100	100	the grant funds to award schools a one-time 13
101	101	payment equal to the anticipated cost of install-14
102	102	ing a salad bar, including the purchase of any 15
103	103	durable equipment required for a salad bar. 16
104	104	‘‘(C) A
105	105	PPLICATION.— 17
106	106	‘‘(i) I
107	107	N GENERAL.—To receive a grant 18
108	108	under this subsection, an eligible entity 19
109	109	shall submit to the Secretary an applica-20
110	110	tion at such time, in such manner, and 21
111	111	containing such information as the Sec-22
112	112	retary may require. 23
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115	115	•HR 739 IH
116	116	‘‘(ii) PRIORITY.—In selecting grant 1
117	117	recipients, the Secretary may give priority 2
118	118	to eligible entities that— 3
119	119	‘‘(I) serve schools in which not 4
120	120	less than 50 percent of the students 5
121	121	are eligible for free or reduced price 6
122	122	lunches; 7
123	123	‘‘(II) serve schools in food 8
124	124	deserts; or 9
125	125	‘‘(III) provide nutrition education 10
126	126	to students. 11
127	127	‘‘(D) T
128	128	ERMINATION.—The grant program 12
129	129	shall terminate 5 years after the date of the en-13
130	130	actment of the Salad Bars in Schools Expan-14
131	131	sion Act. 15
132	132	‘‘(E) E
133	133	VALUATION.—Each grantee shall 16
134	134	submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the 17
135	135	grant program at such time, in such manner, 18
136	136	and containing such information as the Sec-19
137	137	retary may require. 20
138	138	‘‘(4) R
139	139	EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 21
140	140	date of the enactment of the Salad Bars in Schools 22
141	141	Expansion Act, the Secretary shall submit a report 23
142	142	to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 24
143	143	and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 25
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146	146	•HR 739 IH
147	147	Representatives, and the Committee on Agriculture, 1
148	148	Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, which in-2
149	149	cludes— 3
150	150	‘‘(A) recommendations, if any, for pro-4
151	151	moting and establishing more salad bars in 5
152	152	schools; 6
153	153	‘‘(B) the number of schools nationwide 7
154	154	that have a salad bar program in their school; 8
155	155	‘‘(C) the number of schools that have new 9
156	156	salad bars as a result of the plan described in 10
157	157	paragraph (1); and 11
158	158	‘‘(D) the evaluations submitted by grantees 12
159	159	under paragraph (3)(E). 13
160	160	‘‘(5) R
161	161	EVISION OF GUIDANCE ON SALAD BARS 14
162	162	IN THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM .—Not 15
163	163	later than 90 days after submitting the report under 16
164	164	paragraph (4), the Secretary shall revise the March 17
165	165	27, 2013, policy memorandum SP 31–2013, ‘Salad 18
166	166	Bars in the National School Lunch Program’, in 19
167	167	light of any recommendations contained in the re-20
168	168	port. 21
169	169	‘‘(6) D
170	170	EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22
171	171	‘‘(A) D
172	172	URABLE EQUIPMENT .—The term 23
173	173	‘durable equipment’ means durable food prepa-24
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176	176	•HR 739 IH
177	177	ration, handling, cooking, serving, and storage 1
178	178	equipment greater than $500 in value. 2
179	179	‘‘(B) E
180	180	LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi-3
181	181	ble entity’ means— 4
182	182	‘‘(i) a school; or 5
183	183	‘‘(ii) a school food authority. 6
184	184	‘‘(C) F
185	185	OOD DESERT.—The term ‘food 7
186	186	desert’ means a census tract with a substantial 8
187	187	share of residents who live in low-income areas 9
188	188	that have low levels of access to a grocery store 10
189	189	or a healthy, affordable food retail outlet.’’. 11
190	190	SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON NEW APPROPRIATIONS. 12
191	191	No additional funds are authorized to be appro-13
192	192	priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 14
193	193	by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 15
194	194	carried out using amounts otherwise made available for 16
195	195	such purposes. 17
196	196	Æ
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