The State Senate last week gave final approval on a bill to address childhood hunger and improve access to the national school lunch and breakfast programs on a unanimous bipartisan vote.

SB 708, authored by Senator Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), will direct schools to make applications for free or reduced-price meals available electronically online and to provide them in multiple languages. The bill now goes to Governor Brown for his consideration.

“No child in our state should go hungry,” Mendoza said. “It is simply unconscionable that there are children who go throughout the school day hungry due to something as simple as a language barrier or the inability to access an online application. SB 708 is a simple fix that will enable thousands of children at a minimum to get one meal a day.”

Approximately 16 million children experience hunger in the United States, according to Jessica Bartholow, legislative advocate for California’s Western Center on Law and Poverty.

SB 708 requires the online application be uniform and comply with child privacy rights and disclosure protections. Currently, school districts are not required to provide free or reduced meal program applications electronically online or follow any uniform standards.

In 2012-13, approximately 3.7 million of California’s 6.2 million school children were eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. To be eligible for the meal programs, the household income for a family of four must be less than $43,000.

According to the California Department of Education, during the 2012-13 school year, more than 3.1 million students participated in the National School Lunch Program and more than 1.3 million in the School Breakfast Program.