H.R. 9587
Summer Meals REACH Act of 2026
Sponsor: LaMonica McIver
1 cosponsor
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Summer Meals Reaching Every Area's Child Hunger Act of 2026 or the Summer Meals REACH Act of 2026
This bill expands the Summer Food Service Program by permanently making all children eligible to participate in the program, requiring reimbursements to camps for meals served to all children, and allowing all locations to provide grab-and-go meal services.
This Department of Agriculture program provides free meals to children in low-income areas through eligible organizations (e.g., camps), primarily when school is not in session.
The bill permanently allows all locations to provide non-congregate meal distribution, which is meal distribution outside of the typically required group, or congregate, setting (e.g., grab-and-go meal service). Current law limits non-congregate meal distribution to rural communities without access to a congregate meal site.
Further, the bill expands eligible service institutions by permanently allowing for on-site or off-site (i.e., remote) food service monitoring.
Text of the bill
This Act may be cited as the Summer Meals Reaching Every Area’s Child Hunger Act of 2026 or the Summer Meals REACH Act of 2026.
(a) In general. Section 13 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) in paragraph (1)(D), by inserting , except that meals may be noncongregate before the period at the end;
(B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following:
(C) Eligibility. All children shall be eligible to participate in the program under this section.
(C) in paragraph (3)—
(i) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking and;
(ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
(E) conduct food service monitoring onsite or offsite.
(D) in paragraph (5), by striking only for and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting for meals served to all children.; and
(E) in paragraph (13)—
(i) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:
(A) In general. Beginning not later than the first summer that begins after the date of the enactment of the Summer Meals REACH Act of 2026, program meals under this section may be made available for noncongregate consumption.
(ii) by striking subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), and (F);
(iii) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:
(B) Priority. States shall—
(i) identify areas with no congregate meal service that could benefit the most from the provision of noncongregate meals; and
(ii) encourage participating service institutions in those areas to provide noncongregate meals as appropriate.
(iv) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as subparagraph (C); and
(v) by adding at the end the following:
(D) Regulations. Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Summer Meals REACH Act of 2026, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations (which shall include interim final regulations) to carry out the amendments made by such Act to this section, including provisions to—
(i) ensure the integrity of noncongregate meals; and
(ii) to incorporate best practices and lessons learned from—
(I) noncongregate demonstration projects under section 749(g) of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111–80; 123 Stat. 2132); and
(II) the noncongregate meals provided pursuant to this paragraph prior to the date of the enactment of the Summer Meals REACH Act of 2026.
; and
(2) in subsection (f)(3), by striking , except that and all that follows through section.
(b) Regulations. The Secretary shall issue or revise regulations in accordance with the amendments made by this section, including paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 225.15(d) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations.
(c) Conforming amendment. Section 13(c) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761(c)) is amended—
(1) by striking paragraph (2); and
(2) by striking (c)(1) Payments and inserting the following:
(c) Payments. Payments