H.R. 1464 — MODERN WIC Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “More Options to Develop and Enhance Remote Nutrition in WIC Act of 2025” or the “MODERN WIC Act of 2025.”

This section revises the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) certification process under section 17(d)(3) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 by requiring state agencies to offer appointments for certification, recertification, and nutritional risk evaluations in-person and through at least one remote format: telephone, 2-way real-time video, or another 2-way real-time interactive format approved by the Secretary. It also requires that any available appointment format be accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794). For participants certified through a non-in-person format, the section requires state agencies to collect anthropometric data needed for nutritional risk evaluation within 30 days of the appointment to the maximum extent practicable, and in all cases not later than 90 days after the appointment. It further allows state agencies to grant interim WIC eligibility immediately to applicants who meet income standards, without waiting for a nutritional risk evaluation, and requires that evaluation to be completed not later than 90 days after certification. If the required data are not collected within that 90-day period, or if the individual is later found not to meet nutritional risk criteria, the certification terminates on the 90th day after certification or on the date of that determination, respectively.

This section revises the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to allow state agencies to deliver food instruments, including electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, by mail, remote issuance, or other means that do not require participants to travel to a local agency to obtain them. As background, WIC provides supplemental foods, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support to pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and young children with low incomes. The section also requires the Secretary of Agriculture to revise 7 C.F.R. § 246.12(r) by striking paragraph (4), and it updates the state plan and disapproval provisions in 42 U.S.C. § 1786(f)(6)(B) to conform to the new remote issuance authority.

This section directs the Secretary of Agriculture to submit, not later than 1 year after enactment, a report to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on the use of remote technologies in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) under 42 U.S.C. 1786. The report must describe the use of video, telephone, and online platforms to certify eligible individuals and to provide nutrition education and breastfeeding support, assess the impact of those technologies on certifications, appointments, and participant satisfaction, and identify best practices for remote certification, digital tool integration, remote service delivery, and secure management of participant data.