I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 7506
To improve financial literacy training for members of the Armed Forces.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY29, 2024
Ms. S
EWELL(for herself and Mr. MOYLAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To improve financial literacy training for members of the
Armed Forces.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Service Members Are 4
Ready To Save Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘SMART Save Act 5
of 2024’’. 6
SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO FINANCIAL LITERACY TRAIN-7
ING. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 992 of 9
title 10, United States Code, is amended— 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Mar 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7506.IH H7506
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 7506 IH
(1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘grade E– 1
4’’ and inserting ‘‘grade E–6’’; 2
(2) by adding at the end the following new 3
paragraph: 4
‘‘(5) In carrying out the program to provide training 5
under this subsection, the Secretary concerned shall— 6
‘‘(A) use a curriculum across all military de-7
partments for such training that— 8
‘‘(i) focuses on ensuring that members of 9
the Armed Forces who receive such training de-10
velop proficiency in financial literacy rather 11
than focusing on completion of training mod-12
ules; 13
‘‘(ii) is based on best practices of the Fi-14
nancial Literacy Education Commission estab-15
lished under section 513 of the Financial Lit-16
eracy and Education Improvement Act (20 17
U.S.C. 9702); and 18
‘‘(iii) is designed to address the needs of 19
members and their families; 20
‘‘(B) ensure that such training— 21
‘‘(i) is conducted by a financial services 22
counselor who is qualified as described in para-23
graph (3) of subsection (b) or by other means 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Mar 06, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7506.IH H7506
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 7506 IH
as described in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) of that 1
subsection; 2
‘‘(ii) is provided, to the extent practicable 3
and in a manner that does not harm mission 4
readiness— 5
‘‘(I) in a class held in person with 6
fewer than 100 attendees; or 7
‘‘(II) one-on-one between the member 8
and a financial services counselor or a 9
qualified representative described in sub-10
section (b)(2)(A)(ii)(III); and 11
‘‘(iii) is provided using computer-based 12
methods only if methods described in clause (ii) 13
are impractical or unavailable; 14
‘‘(C) ensure that— 15
‘‘(i) an in-person class described in sub-16
paragraph (B)(i)(I) is available to the spouse of 17
a member; and 18
‘‘(ii) if a spouse of a member is unable to 19
attend such a class in person— 20
‘‘(I) training is available to the spouse 21
through an online program managed by 22
the Department of Defense; and 23
‘‘(II) the member is informed during 24
the in-person training of the member 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Mar 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7506.IH H7506
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 7506 IH
under subparagraph (B)(i) with respect to 1
how the member’s spouse can access the 2
training; and 3
‘‘(D) ensure that such training, and all docu-4
ments and materials provided in relation to such 5
training, are presented or written in manner that 6
the Secretary determines can be understood by the 7
average enlisted member.’’. 8
(b) P
ROVISION OFRETIREMENTINFORMATION.— 9
Such section is further amended— 10
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 11
subsections (e) and (g), respectively; and 12
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-13
lowing new subsection (d): 14
‘‘(d) P
ROVISION OFRETIREMENTINFORMATION.—In 15
each training under subsection (a) and in each meeting 16
to provide counseling under subsection (b), a member of 17
the Armed Forces shall be provided with— 18
‘‘(1) all forms relating to retirement that are 19
relevant to the member, including with respect to the 20
Thrift Savings Plan; 21
‘‘(2) information with respect to how to find ad-22
ditional information; and 23
‘‘(3) contact information for counselors pro-24
vided through the Personal Financial Counselor pro-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Mar 06, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7506.IH H7506
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 7506 IH
gram, the Personal Financial Management program, 1
or online programs managed by the Department of 2
Defense.’’. 3
(c) R
EPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF FINANCIAL 4
S
ERVICESCOUNSELING.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 6
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 7
of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense 8
committees a report on financial literacy training 9
and financial services counseling provided under sec-10
tion 992 of title 10, United States Code, as amended 11
by this section, that assesses— 12
(A) the effectiveness of such training and 13
counseling, which shall be determined using ac-14
tual localized data similar to the Unit Risk In-15
ventory Survey of the Army; and 16
(B) whether additional training or coun-17
seling is necessary for enlisted members of the 18
Armed Forces or for officers. 19
(2) F
OLLOW-ON REPORT.—Not later than 6 20
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 21
Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense 22
committees a report on the efforts of the Depart-23
ment of Defense to address any concerns raised in 24
the report required by paragraph (1). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Mar 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7506.IH H7506
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 7506 IH
(3) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES 1
DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘congres-2
sional defense committees’’ has the meaning given 3
that term in section 101 of title 10, United States 4
Code. 5
(d) R
EGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense may 6
prescribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out 7
the amendments made by this section. 8
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Mar 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7506.IH H7506
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB