United States HR 9474: To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish the Local Foods for Healthy Schools Program.

Summary

This bill establishes a Local Foods for Healthy Schools Program that directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide $200 million annually to state and local government agencies to purchase locally-produced food and distribute it to schools participating in federal meal programs. The program affects schools, farmers and food producers within 400 miles of participating schools, state agricultural agencies, and school food authorities that choose to participate in purchasing or receiving local foods.

Bill Text

I 
119THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION 
H. R. 9474 
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary 
of Agriculture to establish the Local Foods for Healthy Schools Program. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
JUNE25, 2026 
Ms.  M
CDONALDRIVET(for  herself  and  Mr.  THOMPSONof  Pennsylvania)  in-
troduced  the  following  bill;  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Agri-
culture 
A  BILL  
To  amend  the  Agricultural  Marketing  Act  of  1946  to  direct  
the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  to  establish  the  Local  Foods  
for Healthy Schools Program. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This  Act  may  be  cited  as  the  ‘‘Local  Foods  for  4
Healthy Schools Act of 2026’’. 5
SEC.  2.  LOCAL  FOODS  FOR  HEALTHY  SCHOOLS  PROGRAM.  6
Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 7
(7  U.S.C.  1621  et  seq.)  is  amended  by  adding  at  the  end  8
the following: 9
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‘‘SEC.  210B.  LOCAL  FOODS  FOR  HEALTHY  SCHOOLS  PRO-1
GRAM. 2
‘‘(a)  E
STABLISHMENT.—The  Secretary  shall  estab-3
lish  a  program,  to  be  known  as  the  ‘Local  Foods  for  4
Healthy  Schools  Program’,  (in  this  section  referred  to  as  5
the  ‘Program’)  under  which  the  Secretary  shall  enter  into  6
noncompetitive  cooperative  agreements  with  eligible  units  7
of government for the purpose of— 8
‘‘(1)  purchasing  local  foods  from  covered  pro-9
ducers; and 10
‘‘(2)  facilitating  the  distribution  of  such  foods  11
to  schools  operating  in  the  geographic  boundaries  of  12
each such eligible unit of government. 13
‘‘(b)  U
SE  OFFUNDS.—Under  a  cooperative  agree-14
ment  entered  into  under  this  section,  an  eligible  unit  of  15
government shall— 16
‘‘(1)  with  respect  to  the  use  of  any  funds  re-17
ceived under the Program— 18
‘‘(A)  purchase  only  local  foods  from  a  cov-19
ered  producer  and  distribute  such  food  to  any  20
school  food  authority  that  is  interested  in  re-21
ceiving such food; or 22
‘‘(B)   disburse   such   funds   to   any   such   23
school   food   authority   to   purchase   only   local   24
foods from a covered producer; and 25
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‘‘(2)  reserve  not  more  than  5  percent  of  any  1
funds received under the Program to— 2
‘‘(A)  provide  training  and  technical  assist-3
ance  to  persons  involved  in  carrying  out  the  ac-4
tivities described under this section; 5
‘‘(B)  with  respect  to  purchasing  local  foods  6
from  a  covered  producer,  pay  the  cost  such  pro-7
ducer   incurs   in   obtaining   any   required   food   8
safety certification; 9
‘‘(C)  conduct  oversight  and  reporting  in  10
the  State  of  such  eligible  unit  of  government;  11
and 12
‘‘(D)   administer   the   activities   described   13
under this section. 14
‘‘(c)  A
PPLICATION.—An  eligible  unit  of  government  15
seeking  to  enter  into  a  cooperative  agreement  under  the  16
Program  shall  submit  to  the  Secretary  an  application  at  17
such  time,  in  such  manner,  and  containing  such  informa-18
tion as the Secretary may require, including— 19
‘‘(1) a plan that— 20
‘‘(A)  identifies  the  lead  agency  responsible  21
for carrying out such plan; 22
‘‘(B)  identifies  any  community  partner,  in-23
cluding  an  aggregator,  that  will  contribute  to  24
implementation of such plan; 25
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‘‘(C)   describes   the   proposed   use   of   any   1
funds received under the Program; and 2
‘‘(D)  demonstrates  that,  to  the  extent  pos-3
sible  based  on  availability  and  local  conditions,  4
a  wide  variety  of  local  foods  will  be  purchased  5
and  distributed  using  funds  received  under  the  6
Program; and 7
‘‘(2) an assurance that— 8
‘‘(A)  the  funds  received  under  this  section  9
will  supplement,  and  not  supplant,  funds  pro-10
vided  by  the  State  in  support  of  providing  local  11
foods  to  school  food  authorities  or  for  school  12
meals; and 13
‘‘(B)  the  eligible  unit  of  government  has  14
sufficient  mechanisms  in  place  to  ensure  the  ef-15
ficient  and  reliable  transfer  of  funds  received  16
under  the  Program,  or  distribution  of  food,  to  17
school   food   authorities,   schools,   covered   pro-18
ducers,  and  community  partners  in  accordance  19
with the plan requi