Clock ticking on reauthorization of Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act

With thousands of bills hitting Congress during each legislative session, the School Nutrition Association leadership knew a nationwide effort was needed to make reauthorization of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act a priority. It was time for SNA members to pound the pavement, visiting all 535 members of Congress in the past few weeks, says Cathy Schuchart, the SNA’s staff vice president of government affairs and media relations.

“It took a while and a couple of pairs of shoes, but we were able to do it,” she said Monday at the SNA’s Annual National Convention in Salt Lake City. “We were excited that when we went in, and people saw that we were from SNA, they were like, ‘Oh, SNA!’ and it was in a good way.”

Though the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act doesn’t expire until Sept. 30, 2015, there have been a few issues that just couldn’t wait for action. In March 2014, Schuchart says, the SNA had identified four such areas: sodium, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and ala carte items.

“Getting input is one of the key things for us as representatives on your behalf to make sure that we are staying current with the issues,” Wendy Weyer, SNA public policy and legislation committee chairwoman, said Monday.

Sodium and whole grains made their way into appropriation bills, and schools were able to achieve temporary relief from further sodium restrictions and a reduction in the whole-grain requirement percentages.

But because those changes were part of an appropriations bill, they only are valid through Sept. 30, 2015, the end of the federal fiscal year. And because Capitol Hill lawmakers typically work in their districts from early August through the Tuesday after Labor Day, there are only, as Schuchart says, “a handful of days” to focus on reauthorizing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids act.

That means, she says, that it’s time for the SNA to maximize its advocacy efforts. Members of leadership have been asked to testify at four of seven hearings that have taken place in the House and Senate in the past year. SNA operators sent more than 10,000 messages to Congress in regard to the 2014 issues alone. Meanwhile, the SNA also invited Congressional staffers to a cafeteria site visit to learn firsthand what operators and students experience on a daily basis. The most important piece, she says, is making sure legislators are informed—which the SNA can’t do without operators’ help.

“[Members of Congress] that will be working on the next reauthorization … more than half of them weren’t even around when the 2010 reauthorization was signed into law,” she says. “That to me is either very scary or very exciting. I don’t know what it is just yet. But it gives us, on the bright side, the opportunity to educate all of these new folks.”