WASHINGTON, DC--Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would allow more low-income children to participate in federal summer and afterschool nutrition programs.

Under the Improved Program Access Act, H.R. 4734, students in 10 schools in Sonoma County that do not now qualify for the programs would have access to them.

Currently, children in school districts where 50 percent of children qualify for free or reduced price meals may also take part in the Summer Food Service Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the snacks served as part of the National School Lunch Program. Woolsey’s bill, co-sponsored by Rep.Todd Platts, R-Pa., would lower that threshold to 40 percent, bringing nutrition program qualifications in line with other federal education programs.

“Every needy child deserves to have access to summer and afterschool nutrition programs, regardless of where they live” said Woolsey.  “For too long, rural and suburban communities have been unable to meet the restrictive eligibility thresholds for these nutrition programs, and with this legislation, we will correct this long overdo problem.”

The bill also includes a $10 million transportation grant program for underserved, including rural, areas to increase participation at centralized feeding sites during the summer. Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., have introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

The Sonoma schools that would become eligible to serve summer food and afterschool snacks under the law are Forestville Elementary School, Schaefer Elementary School, Grace High School, Olivet Elementary School, Santa Rosa Middle School, Douglas Whited Elementary School, Piner Elementary and High Schools, California Virtual Academy at Sonoma, and Ridgway High School.

Nearly 4 million low-income children nationwide--about a half million of them in California--are expected to become eligible for these nutrition programs under this legislation.