HB424: relative to school lunch payment policies.

HB 424-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2023 SESSION

23-0294

09/10

HOUSE BILL 424-FN

AN ACT relative to school lunch payment policies.

SPONSORS: Rep. Horrigan, Straf. 10; Rep. Petrigno, Hills. 43

COMMITTEE: Education

ANALYSIS

This bill requires school boards that provide free or reduced cost meals to refrain from certain actions that could stigmatize a child who requests such a meal.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

23-0294

09/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three

AN ACT relative to school lunch payment policies.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 New Paragraphs; Free and Reduced Cost Meals; Anti-Stigmatization Practices. Amend RSA 189:11-a by inserting after paragraph VIII the following new paragraphs:

IX. Each school board that makes meals available at no cost or at a reduced cost shall:

(a) Prohibit public identification or stigmatization of a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt.

(b) Prohibit a child who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt from doing chores or other work to pay for meals, unless chores or other work are required of all students.

(c) Require a school to direct communications about a child's meal debt to a parent or guardian and not the student. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a school from sending a student home with a letter addressed to a parent or guardian, provided that the letter shall not be distributed to the child in a manner that stigmatizes the child.

X. Any school that participates in the National School Breakfast Program or the National School Lunch Program shall not provide to any child who qualifies for a free or reduced price breakfast or lunch an alternate meal that is not provided to students generally.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

LBA

23-0294

1/4/23

HB 424-FN- FISCAL NOTE

AS INTRODUCED

AN ACT relative to school lunch payment policies.

FISCAL IMPACT: [ ] State [ ] County [ X ] Local [ ] None

Estimated Increase / (Decrease)

LOCAL:

FY 2023

FY 2024

FY 2025

FY 2026

Revenue

$0

$0

$0

$0

Expenditures

$0

Indeterminable

Indeterminable

Indeterminable

METHODOLOGY:

This bill relates to school district lunch payment policies. The Department of Education states it does not possess specific information on each district’s current policies and therefore is unable to estimate this bill’s impact, if any, on local district expenditures to ensure compliance.

AGENCIES CONTACTED:

Department of Education