Sponsors (8)
The bill modernizes and clarifies Federal rules for child nutrition and child-care programs—improving predictability, digital access, and targeted reimbursements—while shifting administrative, technological, and potential fiscal burdens to providers, schools, states, and taxpayers that could reduce meal access or constrain state-level flexibility if not carefully implemented.
Child-care providers, sponsoring organizations, parents, and children will face clearer, uniform Federal rules on eligibility, what counts as a 'serious deficiency,' and appeal processes, plus required annual eligibility determinations and a mandated one-year federal review, improving predictability and program integrity.
Families, program operators, and state/local agencies will experience less paperwork and faster enrollment through nationwide direct certification, acceptance of digital forms and e-signatures, electronic records, and reduced duplicate Federal/State reporting, improving access to benefits and lowering ongoing administrative costs.
Children in child-care programs and program operators will receive clearer USDA guidance and a study-based report that sets limits on reimbursable meals, aiming to better target meal reimbursements to typical nutrition needs and reduce unnecessary costs to operators and parents.
Child-care providers, program operators, and small sponsors may face increased ongoing administrative burdens and compliance costs from annual eligibility reviews, tighter federal definitions, and any new documentation or guidance, and may also bear upfront costs to adopt required electronic systems.
Some children—particularly low-income children who sometimes receive extra reimbursable meals under local practices—could lose access to those meals, and providers may see reduced meal reimbursements, lowering provider revenue or shifting costs to parents or programs.
States could lose flexibility to enforce additional state-level safety or quality requirements if those are excluded from Federal 'serious deficiency' determinations, and streamlining paperwork without balanced oversight could weaken accountability and child-protection enforcement.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Adjusts CACFP eligibility language, adds annual eligibility checks, limits reimbursable meals, mandates USDA reviews/studies and guidance on deficiencies, updates CPI indexing, and creates a paperwork‑reduction advisory committee.
Makes targeted changes to the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) rules: it reorganizes and clarifies eligibility language for proprietary child care centers, requires annual eligibility determinations for certain institutions, limits how many reimbursable meals or supplements a child can receive in a day, directs USDA to review and revise the program’s "serious deficiency" process, updates the consumer price index used for adjustments, and creates an advisory committee to recommend paperwork reductions and prompt USDA guidance or regulations. The bill focuses on administrative, regulatory, and program‑operation changes rather than new funding. Key near‑term actions include USDA reviews and rulemaking deadlines (within 1–2 years for several items) and formation of a paperwork‑reduction committee within 180 days to propose streamlining measures for operators, sponsors, and State agencies.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Richard Blumenthal · Last progress April 10, 2025