Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB3837 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	2
4	4	DSESSION S. 3837
5	5	To improve financial literacy training for members of the Armed Forces.
6	6	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
7	7	FEBRUARY29, 2024
8	8	Mrs. M
9	9	URRAY(for herself and Mr. SCHMITT) introduced the following bill;
10	10	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
11	11	A BILL
12	12	To improve financial literacy training for members of the
13	13	Armed Forces.
14	14	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
15	15	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
16	16	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
17	17	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Service Members Are 4
18	18	Ready To Save Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘SMART Save Act 5
19	19	of 2024’’. 6
20	20	SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO FINANCIAL LITERACY TRAIN-7
21	21	ING. 8
22	22	(a) I
23	23	NGENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 992 of 9
24	24	title 10, United States Code, is amended— 10
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27	27	•S 3837 IS
28	28	(1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘grade E– 1
29	29	4’’ and inserting ‘‘grade E–6’’; 2
30	30	(2) by adding at the end the following new 3
31	31	paragraph: 4
32	32	‘‘(5) In carrying out the program to provide training 5
33	33	under this subsection, the Secretary concerned shall— 6
34	34	‘‘(A) use a curriculum across all military de-7
35	35	partments for such training that— 8
36	36	‘‘(i) focuses on ensuring that members of 9
37	37	the armed forces who receive such training de-10
38	38	velop proficiency in financial literacy rather 11
39	39	than focusing on completion of training mod-12
40	40	ules; 13
41	41	‘‘(ii) is based on best practices of the Fi-14
42	42	nancial Literacy Education Commission estab-15
43	43	lished under section 513 of the Financial Lit-16
44	44	eracy and Education Improvement Act (20 17
45	45	U.S.C. 9702); and 18
46	46	‘‘(iii) is designed to address the needs of 19
47	47	members and their families; 20
48	48	‘‘(B) ensure that such training— 21
49	49	‘‘(i) is conducted by a financial services 22
50	50	counselor who is qualified as described in para-23
51	51	graph (3) of subsection (b) or by other means 24
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54	54	•S 3837 IS
55	55	as described in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) of that 1
56	56	subsection; 2
57	57	‘‘(ii) is provided, to the extent practicable 3
58	58	and in a manner that does not harm mission 4
59	59	readiness— 5
60	60	‘‘(I) in a class held in person with 6
61	61	fewer than 100 attendees; or 7
62	62	‘‘(II) one-on-one between the member 8
63	63	and a financial services counselor or a 9
64	64	qualified representative described in sub-10
65	65	section (b)(2)(A)(ii)(III); and 11
66	66	‘‘(iii) is provided using computer-based 12
67	67	methods only if methods described in clause (ii) 13
68	68	are impractical or unavailable; 14
69	69	‘‘(C) ensure that— 15
70	70	‘‘(i) an in-person class described in sub-16
71	71	paragraph (B)(i)(I) is available to the spouse of 17
72	72	a member; and 18
73	73	‘‘(ii) if a spouse of a member is unable to 19
74	74	attend such a class in person— 20
75	75	‘‘(I) training is available to the spouse 21
76	76	through an online program managed by 22
77	77	the Department of Defense; and 23
78	78	‘‘(II) the member is informed during 24
79	79	the in-person training of the member 25
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82	82	•S 3837 IS
83	83	under subparagraph (B)(i) with respect to 1
84	84	how the member’s spouse can access the 2
85	85	training; and 3
86	86	‘‘(D) ensure that such training, and all docu-4
87	87	ments and materials provided in relation to such 5
88	88	training, are presented or written in manner that 6
89	89	the Secretary determines can be understood by the 7
90	90	average enlisted member.’’. 8
91	91	(b) P
92	92	ROVISION OFRETIREMENTINFORMATION.— 9
93	93	Such section is further amended— 10
94	94	(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 11
95	95	subsections (e) and (g), respectively; and 12
96	96	(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-13
97	97	lowing new subsection (d): 14
98	98	‘‘(d) P
99	99	ROVISION OFRETIREMENTINFORMATION.—In 15
100	100	each training under subsection (a) and in each meeting 16
101	101	to provide counseling under subsection (b), a member of 17
102	102	the armed forces shall be provided with— 18
103	103	‘‘(1) all forms relating to retirement that are 19
104	104	relevant to the member, including with respect to the 20
105	105	Thrift Savings Plan; 21
106	106	‘‘(2) information with respect to how to find ad-22
107	107	ditional information; and 23
108	108	‘‘(3) contact information for counselors pro-24
109	109	vided through the Personal Financial Counselor pro-25
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113	113	gram, the Personal Financial Management program, 1
114	114	or online programs managed by the Department of 2
115	115	Defense.’’. 3
116	116	(c) R
117	117	EPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF FINANCIAL 4
118	118	S
119	119	ERVICESCOUNSELING.— 5
120	120	(1) I
121	121	N GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 6
122	122	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 7
123	123	of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense 8
124	124	committees a report on financial literacy training 9
125	125	and financial services counseling provided under sec-10
126	126	tion 992 of title 10, United States Code, as amended 11
127	127	by this section, that assesses— 12
128	128	(A) the effectiveness of such training and 13
129	129	counseling, which shall be determined using ac-14
130	130	tual localized data similar to the Unit Risk In-15
131	131	ventory Survey of the Army; and 16
132	132	(B) whether additional training or coun-17
133	133	seling is necessary for enlisted members of the 18
134	134	Armed Forces or for officers. 19
135	135	(2) F
136	136	OLLOW-ON REPORT.—Not later than 6 20
137	137	years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 21
138	138	Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense 22
139	139	committees a report on the efforts of the Depart-23
140	140	ment of Defense to address any concerns raised in 24
141	141	the report required by paragraph (1). 25
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145	145	(3) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES 1
146	146	DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘congres-2
147	147	sional defense committees’’ has the meaning given 3
148	148	that term in section 101 of title 10, United States 4
149	149	Code. 5
150	150	(d) R
151	151	EGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense may 6
152	152	prescribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out 7
153	153	the amendments made by this section. 8
154	154	Æ
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