II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 2528
To require verification of the financial independence of financial services
counselors in the Department of Defense.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY26, 2023
Mrs. F
EINSTEINintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To require verification of the financial independence of
financial services counselors in the Department of Defense.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. VERIFICATION OF THE FINANCIAL INDEPEND-3
ENCE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNSELORS 4
IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. 5
(a) V
ERIFICATION OFFINANCIALINDEPENDENCE.— 6
Section 992(b) of title 10, United States Code, is amend-7
ed— 8
(1) in paragraph (2)(A)— 9
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•S 2528 IS
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1
end; 2
(B) in clause (ii)— 3
(i) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting 4
‘‘shall’’; 5
(ii) by striking ‘‘installation by any 6
means elected by the Secretary from 7
among the following:’’ and inserting ‘‘in-8
stallation—’’; 9
(iii) in subclause (I)— 10
(I) by striking ‘‘Through’’ and 11
inserting ‘‘through’’; and 12
(II) by striking ‘‘Defense.’’ and 13
inserting ‘‘Defense;’’; 14
(iv) in subclause (II)— 15
(I) by striking ‘‘By contract’’ and 16
inserting ‘‘by contract’’; and 17
(II) by striking ‘‘Internet.’’ and 18
inserting ‘‘Internet; or’’; and 19
(v) in subclause (III)— 20
(I) by striking ‘‘Through’’ and 21
inserting ‘‘through’’; and 22
(II) by striking ‘‘counseling.’’ and 23
inserting ‘‘counseling; and’’; and 24
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(C) by adding at the end the following new 1
clause: 2
‘‘(iii) may not provide financial services through 3
any individual unless such individual agrees to sub-4
mit financial disclosures annually to the Secretary.’’; 5
(2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘installa-6
tion by any of the means set forth in subparagraph 7
(A)(ii), as elected by the Secretary concerned.’’ and 8
inserting ‘‘installation in accordance with the re-9
quirements established under clauses (ii) and (iii) of 10
subparagraph (A).’’; and 11
(3) in paragraph (4)— 12
(A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘The Sec-13
retary’’; and 14
(B) by inserting at the end the following 15
new subparagraphs: 16
‘‘(B) In carrying out the requirements of subpara-17
graph (A), the Secretary concerned shall establish a re-18
quirement that each financial services counselor under 19
paragraph (2)(A)(i), and any other individual providing 20
counseling on financial services under paragraph (2), sub-21
mit financial disclosures annually to the Secretary. 22
‘‘(C) The Secretary concerned shall review all finan-23
cial disclosures submitted pursuant to subparagraph (B) 24
to ensure the counselor, or the individual providing coun-25
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seling, is free from conflict as required under this para-1
graph. 2
‘‘(D) If the Secretary concerned determines that a 3
financial services counselor under paragraph (2)(A)(i), or 4
any other individual providing counseling on financial 5
services under paragraph (2), is not free from conflict as 6
required under this paragraph, the Secretary shall ensure 7
that the counselor, or the individual providing counseling, 8
does not provide such services until such time as the Sec-9
retary determines that such conflict is resolved.’’. 10
(b) R
EPORT ONFINANCIALINDEPENDENCE.—Not 11
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 12
this Act, and annually thereafter, each Secretary con-13
cerned shall submit to Congress a report on the percentage 14
of financial services counselors under paragraph (2)(A)(i) 15
of section 992(b) of title 10, United States Code (as 16
amended by subsection (a)), and other individuals pro-17
viding counseling on financial services under paragraph 18
(2) of such section (as amended by subsection (a)), whom 19
the Secretary determined to be free from conflicts as re-20
quired under paragraph (4) of such section (as amended 21
by subsection (a)). 22
(c) S
ECRETARYCONCERNEDDEFINED.—In this sec-23
tion, the term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ has the meaning 24
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given to such term in section 101 of title 10, United States 1
Code. 2
Æ
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