H.R. 5655

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5655 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5655

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma 
associated with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 30, 2025

Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Bishop, Ms. Brownley, Mr. 
Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Clarke 
of New York, Mr. Correa, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. 
Espaillat, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. 
Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of 
Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore 
of Wisconsin, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Peters, 
Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Salinas, Ms. 
Schakowsky, Ms. Simon, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. 
Takano, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. Watson Coleman, and 
Ms. Wilson of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma 
associated with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes.

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 ``No Shame at School Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT.

(a) Mandatory Certification.--Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. 
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended--
(1) in the heading, by striking ``Discretionary'' and 
inserting ``Mandatory'';
(2) by striking ``any local'' and inserting ``a local''; 
and
(3) by striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall''.
(b) Retroactive Reimbursement.--Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard 
B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is 
amended--
(1) by striking ``Except'' and inserting the following:
``(i) In general.--Except'';
(2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 
and (II); and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(ii) Retroactivity.--A local educational 
agency shall revise a previously submitted meal 
claim to reflect the eligibility approval of a 
child for free or reduced price meals for the 
period that begins on the first day of the 
current school year.
``(iii) Meal claim defined.--In this 
subsection, the term `meal claim' means any 
documentation provided by a school food 
authority to a State agency in order to receive 
reimbursement for the cost of a meal served to 
a child by such school food authority.''.
(c) Reducing Stigma Associated With Unpaid School Meal Fees.--
Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(10)) is amended to read as follows:
``(10) Reducing Stigma Associated With Unpaid School Meal Fees.--
``(A) Overt identification prohibited.--A local educational 
agency or school food authority may not, based on the status of 
a covered child as a covered child--
``(i) physically segregate such covered child;
``(ii) overtly identify such covered child--
``(I) through the use of special tokens or 
tickets; or
``(II) by an announcement or a published 
list of names; or
``(iii) identify or stigmatize such covered child 
by any other means.
``(B) Eligibility determination by local educational 
agency.--For any covered child who is a member of a household 
that owes a week or more of unpaid school meal fees, a local 
educational agency shall--
``(i) attempt to directly certify such covered 
child for free meals under paragraph (4) or (5); or
``(ii) in a case where the local educational agency 
is not able to directly certify such covered child 
under paragraph (4) or (5), provide to the household of 
such covered child--
``(I) a household application and 
applicable descriptive material; and
``(II) written and oral communications to 
encourage submission of the application.
``(C) Collection of unpaid school meal fees.--In attempting 
to collect unpaid school meal fees from a household, a local 
educational agency or school food authority may not--
``(i) except as described in subparagraph (D), 
direct any communication regarding unpaid school meal 
fees to a covered child who is a member of such 
household;
``(ii) withhold educational opportunities 
(including grades and participation in extracurricular 
activities or local educational agency programs or 
services) from, or otherwise stigmatize, a covered 
child due to the status of the covered child as a 
covered child; or
``(iii) use a debt collector (as such term is 
defined in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)).
``(D) Letters.--A school food authority may require that a 
covered child deliver a sealed letter addressed to a parent or 
guardian of the covered child that contains a communication 
relating to unpaid school meal fees, subject to the condition 
that the letter shall not be distributed to the covered child 
in a manner that stigmatizes the covered child.
``(E) Eliminating stigma in meal service.--In providing a 
meal to a covered child, a local educational agency or school 
food authority may not, based on the status of the covered 
child as a covered child, dispose of or take away from the 
covered child any food that has already been served to such 
covered child.
``(F) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
``(i) Covered child.--The term `covered child' 
means a child who--
``(I) is--
``(aa) enrolled in a school that 
participates in the school lunch 
program under this Act or the school 
breakfast program under section 4 of 
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1773); and
``(bb) is a member of a household 
that owes unpaid school meal fees; or
``(II) is eligible for a free or reduced 
price lunch under this section.
``(ii) Unpaid school meal fees.--The term `unpaid 
school meal fees' means outstanding fees owed by a 
household to a local educational agency for lunches 
under this Act or breakfasts under section 4 of the 
Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).''.
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