By Vowell, et al. H.B. No. 2560
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the summer food service program.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, is amended by
1-5 adding Section 33.024 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 33.024. SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM. (a) In this
1-7 section:
1-8 (1) "Agency" means the Central Education Agency.
1-9 (2) "Field office" means a field office of a special
1-10 nutrition program administered by the department.
1-11 (3) "Summer program" means the Summer Food Service
1-12 Program.
1-13 (b) The department and the agency shall develop a plan to
1-14 ensure that by June 15, 1997, children residing in school districts
1-15 in which 60 percent or more children are eligible for free or
1-16 reduced-price meals will have access to the summer program. The
1-17 plan shall provide a time line for implementation effective the
1-18 summer of 1994 through June 15, 1997. The department and the
1-19 agency shall each designate a person on their respective
1-20 administrative staffs who shall be charged with coordinating
1-21 activities pursuant to this requirement.
1-22 (c) The agency shall provide to the department, in October
1-23 following each school year, a listing of those school districts
2-1 which had at least:
2-2 (1) 90 percent of children in the district eligible
2-3 for free or reduced-price meals during the 1992-1993 school year;
2-4 (2) 80 percent of children in the district eligible
2-5 for free or reduced-price meals during the 1993-1994 school year;
2-6 (3) 70 percent of children in the district eligible
2-7 for free or reduced-price meals during the 1994-1995 school year;
2-8 and
2-9 (4) 60 percent of children in the district eligible
2-10 for free or reduced-price meals during the 1995-1996 school year
2-11 and each school year thereafter.
2-12 (d) By November 30 of each year, the department and the
2-13 agency shall jointly notify the following of their joint
2-14 responsibility to provide or arrange for the provision of a summer
2-15 program the following summer:
2-16 (1) each listed school district that does not have a
2-17 summer program sponsor in the district; and
2-18 (2) special field offices.
2-19 (e) School district facilities shall be utilized for the
2-20 summer program unless the cost to the district can be documented as
2-21 exceeding the funds available for the summer program.
2-22 (f) Each notified school district shall respond to the
2-23 department and the agency no later than January 31 of the following
2-24 year and either indicate its intent to operate a summer program in
2-25 the following summer or request a waiver of the requirement to
3-1 operate a summer program, as provided by Subsection (g).
3-2 (g) A waiver under Subsection (f) may be granted by the
3-3 department and the agency, to a school district if:
3-4 (1) the district demonstrates to the department and
3-5 the agency that:
3-6 (A) there are fewer than 100 children in the
3-7 district currently eligible for free or reduced-price meals;
3-8 (B) transportation remains an insurmountable
3-9 obstacle despite consultation by the district with public transit
3-10 providers;
3-11 (C) the district is unable to operate a summer
3-12 program due to renovation or construction within the district and
3-13 an appropriate alternative provider or site is not available; or
3-14 (D) the district is unable to operate a summer
3-15 program due to other extenuating circumstances and an appropriate
3-16 alternative provider or site is not available; and
3-17 (2) the district works with the field offices to
3-18 identify other persons and agencies in the district who were
3-19 contacted as potential providers or sites for the summer program.
3-20 (h) If the school district has requested a waiver under
3-21 Subsection (f) and has been unable to provide a list of possible
3-22 sponsors to the department, the field offices shall continue
3-23 efforts to locate an alternative sponsor for the summer program.
3-24 (i) The department, in consultation with the agency, shall
3-25 publish rules and procedures for obtaining a waiver under
4-1 Subsection (f). A waiver shall be for a one-year period.
4-2 (j) The department and the agency shall provide to the 74th
4-3 Legislature and 75th Legislature biennial reports which shall
4-4 include a listing of school districts identified as described in
4-5 Subsection (c) which have become sponsors of a summer program. The
4-6 report shall also include a listing of identified school districts
4-7 that failed to satisfy the requirements of this section.
4-8 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-14 passage, and it is so enacted.