Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB486 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 486
55 To establish a grant program in the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
66 to fund the establishment of centers of excellence to support research,
77 development and planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective
88 programs in financial literacy education for young people and families
99 ages 8 through 24 years old, and for other purposes.
1010 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1111 JANUARY16, 2025
1212 Mr. C
1313 ARSON(for himself, Mr. AMO, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CAR-
1414 TERof Louisiana, Mr. CASE, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEANof
1515 Pennsylvania, Mr. E
1616 SPAILLAT, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mrs. HAYES,
1717 Ms. N
1818 ORTON, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mr. MCGOV-
1919 ERN, Mrs. MCIVER, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Mr.
2020 S
2121 OTO, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. TORRESof New York) intro-
2222 duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan-
2323 cial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Work-
2424 force, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
2525 case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
2626 the committee concerned
2727 A BILL
2828 To establish a grant program in the Bureau of Consumer
2929 Financial Protection to fund the establishment of centers
3030 of excellence to support research, development and plan-
3131 ning, implementation, and evaluation of effective pro-
3232 grams in financial literacy education for young people
3333 and families ages 8 through 24 years old, and for other
3434 purposes.
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3838 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3939 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
4040 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
4141 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Young Americans Fi-4
4242 nancial Literacy Act’’. 5
4343 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
4444 The Congress finds as follows: 7
4545 (1) That 88 percent of Americans believe finan-8
4646 cial education should be taught in schools and 92 9
4747 percent of K–12 teachers believe that financial edu-10
4848 cation should be taught in school, but only 12 per-11
4949 cent of teachers actually teach the subject. 12
5050 (2) According to a 2020 survey, less than half 13
5151 of states require high school students to take a 14
5252 course on personal finance, and less than 17 percent 15
5353 of high schoolers were required to take a one semes-16
5454 ter personal finance course. 17
5555 (3) For the fourth year in a row, more than one 18
5656 third of surveyed consumers gave themselves a ‘‘B’’ 19
5757 when grading their own level of basic financial lit-20
5858 eracy. Less than one-fifth of Americans gave them-21
5959 selves an ‘‘A’’. Most adults feel that their financial 22
6060 literacy skills are inadequate, yet they do not rely on 23
6161 anyone else to handle their finances; they feel it is 24
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6565 important to know more but have received no finan-1
6666 cial education. 2
6767 (4) The sudden disruptions caused by the 3
6868 spread of COVID–19 are presenting economic chal-4
6969 lenges with growing consequences. While some fac-5
7070 tors affecting financial well-being are beyond indi-6
7171 vidual control, financial literacy can help people bet-7
7272 ter manage their finances through times of hardship. 8
7373 (5) It is necessary to respond immediately to 9
7474 the pressing needs of individuals faced with the loss 10
7575 of their financial stability; however increased atten-11
7676 tion must also be paid to financial literacy education 12
7777 reform and long-term solutions to prevent future 13
7878 personal financial disasters. 14
7979 (6) There is an urgent need to respond to the 15
8080 COVID–19 economic recovery with research-based 16
8181 financial literacy education programs to reach indi-17
8282 viduals at all ages and socioeconomic levels, particu-18
8383 larly those facing unique and challenging financial 19
8484 situations, such as high school graduates entering 20
8585 the workforce, soon-to-be and recent college grad-21
8686 uates, young families, and the unique needs of mili-22
8787 tary personnel and their families. 23
8888 (7) High school and college students who are 24
8989 exposed to cumulative financial education show an 25
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9393 increase in financial knowledge, which in turn drives 1
9494 increasingly responsible behavior as they become 2
9595 young adults. 3
9696 (8) The majority (52 percent) of young adults 4
9797 between the ages of 23–28 consider ‘‘making better 5
9898 choices about managing money’’, the single most im-6
9999 portant issue for individual Americans to act on 7
100100 today. 8
101101 (9) According to the Government Accountability 9
102102 Office, giving Americans the information they need 10
103103 to make effective financial decisions can be key to 11
104104 their well-being and to the country’s economic 12
105105 health. The current pandemic, in which 88 percent 13
106106 of Americans say is causing stress on their personal 14
107107 finances, underscores the need to improve individ-15
108108 uals’ financial literacy and empower all Americans to 16
109109 make informed financial decisions. This is especially 17
110110 true for young people as they are earning their first 18
111111 paychecks, securing student aid, and establishing 19
112112 their financial independence. Therefore, focusing 20
113113 economic education and financial literacy efforts and 21
114114 best practices for young people between the ages of 22
115115 8–24 is of the utmost importance. 23
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119119 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR FUNDING THE ESTABLISH-1
120120 MENT OF CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN FI-2
121121 NANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION. 3
122122 (a) I
123123 NGENERAL.—The Consumer Financial Protec-4
124124 tion Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481 et seq.) is amended— 5
125125 (1) by redesignating section 1037 as section 6
126126 1038; and 7
127127 (2) by inserting after section 1036 the fol-8
128128 lowing: 9
129129 ‘‘SEC. 1037. AUTHORIZATION FOR FUNDING THE ESTAB-10
130130 LISHMENT OF CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN 11
131131 FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION. 12
132132 ‘‘(a) I
133133 NGENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau, in 13
134134 consultation with the Financial Literacy and Education 14
135135 Commission established under the Financial Literacy and 15
136136 Education Improvement Act, shall make competitive 16
137137 grants to and enter into agreements with eligible institu-17
138138 tions to establish centers of excellence to support research, 18
139139 development and planning, implementation, and evalua-19
140140 tion of effective programs in financial literacy education 20
141141 for young people and families ages 8 through 24 years 21
142142 old. 22
143143 ‘‘(b) A
144144 UTHORIZEDACTIVITIES.—Activities author-23
145145 ized to be funded by grants made under subsection (a) 24
146146 shall include the following: 25
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150150 ‘‘(1) Developing and implementing comprehen-1
151151 sive research based financial literacy education pro-2
152152 grams for young people— 3
153153 ‘‘(A) based on a set of core competencies 4
154154 and concepts established by the Director, in-5
155155 cluding goal setting, planning, budgeting, man-6
156156 aging money or transactions, tools and struc-7
157157 tures, behaviors, consequences, both long- and 8
158158 short-term savings, managing debt and earn-9
159159 ings; and 10
160160 ‘‘(B) which can be incorporated into edu-11
161161 cational settings through existing academic con-12
162162 tent areas, including materials that appro-13
163163 priately serve various segments of at-risk popu-14
164164 lations, particularly minority and disadvantaged 15
165165 individuals. 16
166166 ‘‘(2) Designing instructional materials using 17
167167 evidence-based content for young families and con-18
168168 ducting related outreach activities to address unique 19
169169 life situations and financial pitfalls, including bank-20
170170 ruptcy, foreclosure, credit card misuse, and preda-21
171171 tory lending. 22
172172 ‘‘(3) Developing and supporting the delivery of 23
173173 professional development programs in financial lit-24
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177177 eracy education to assure competence and account-1
178178 ability in the delivery system. 2
179179 ‘‘(4) Improving access to, and dissemination of, 3
180180 financial literacy information for young people and 4
181181 families. 5
182182 ‘‘(5) Reducing student loan default rates by de-6
183183 veloping programs to help individuals better under-7
184184 stand how to manage educational debt through sus-8
185185 tained educational programs for college students. 9
186186 ‘‘(6) Conducting ongoing research and evalua-10
187187 tion of financial literacy education programs to as-11
188188 sure learning of defined skills and knowledge, and 12
189189 retention of learning. 13
190190 ‘‘(7) Developing research-based assessment and 14
191191 accountability of the appropriate applications of 15
192192 learning over short- and long-terms to measure ef-16
193193 fectiveness of authorized activities. 17
194194 ‘‘(c) P
195195 RIORITY FORCERTAINAPPLICATIONS.—The 18
196196 Director shall give a priority to applications that— 19
197197 ‘‘(1) provide clear definitions of ‘financial lit-20
198198 eracy’ and ‘financially literate’ to clarify educational 21
199199 outcomes; 22
200200 ‘‘(2) establish parameters for identifying the 23
201201 types of programs that most effectively reach young 24
202202 people and families in unique life situations and fi-25
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206206 nancial pitfalls, including bankruptcy, foreclosure, 1
207207 credit card misuse, and predatory lending; 2
208208 ‘‘(3) include content that is appropriate to age 3
209209 and socioeconomic levels; 4
210210 ‘‘(4) develop programs based on educational 5
211211 standards, definitions, and research; 6
212212 ‘‘(5) include individual goals of financial inde-7
213213 pendence and stability; 8
214214 ‘‘(6) establish professional development and de-9
215215 livery systems using evidence-based practices; 10
216216 ‘‘(7) address the needs of one or more at-risk 11
217217 populations; 12
218218 ‘‘(8) incorporate sensitivities to specific cul-13
219219 tural, linguistic, or demographic characteristics; 14
220220 ‘‘(9) enhance opportunities for asset building, 15
221221 such as increasing savings for lower income house-16
222222 holds and investments into the stock, bond, and real 17
223223 estate markets; 18
224224 ‘‘(10) include an evaluation component to en-19
225225 sure the work’s effectiveness in increasing financial 20
226226 literacy or consumer access to appropriate financial 21
227227 products or services, or that the provider has evi-22
228228 dence of such effectiveness; 23
229229 ‘‘(11) promise future replication or can be sus-24
230230 tained beyond the program period; and 25
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234234 ‘‘(12) will make effectiveness data (if any) that 1
235235 is generated from the work available to others in the 2
236236 financial education community. 3
237237 ‘‘(d) A
238238 PPLICATION AND EVALUATIONSTANDARDS 4
239239 ANDPROCEDURES; DISTRIBUTIONCRITERIA.—The Di-5
240240 rector shall establish application and evaluation standards 6
241241 and procedures, distribution criteria, and such other 7
242242 forms, standards, definitions, and procedures as the Direc-8
243243 tor determines to be appropriate. 9
244244 ‘‘(e) C
245245 ONTENTDELIVERY.—An eligible institution re-10
246246 ceiving a grant under this section shall— 11
247247 ‘‘(1) ensure that content is delivered in an ac-12
248248 cessible way to young people, through traditional 13
249249 educational methods and digital methods, including 14
250250 over appropriate social media platforms; and 15
251251 ‘‘(2) to the extent content is delivered through 16
252252 a website, ensure that the website is user friendly, 17
253253 visually appealing, and doesn’t bombard users with 18
254254 dense content that is difficult to comprehend. 19
255255 ‘‘(f) G
256256 RANTAMOUNTS.— 20
257257 ‘‘(1) I
258258 N GENERAL.—The aggregate amount of 21
259259 grants made under this section during any fiscal 22
260260 year— 23
261261 ‘‘(A) shall be at least $27,500,000; and 24
262262 ‘‘(B) may not exceed $55,000,000. 25
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266266 ‘‘(2) TERMINATION.—No grants may be made 1
267267 under this section after the end of fiscal year 2029. 2
268268 ‘‘(g) R
269269 EPORT TOCONGRESS.—The Director shall 3
270270 issue an annual report to Congress containing— 4
271271 ‘‘(1) a list of grant recipients under this sec-5
272272 tion, including the amount of such grant; and 6
273273 ‘‘(2) for each grant recipient, a description of 7
274274 the specific populations being served by such grant. 8
275275 ‘‘(h) D
276276 EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section the 9
277277 following definitions shall apply: 10
278278 ‘‘(1) E
279279 LIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘eligi-11
280280 ble institution’ means a partnership of two or more 12
281281 of the following: 13
282282 ‘‘(A) An institution of higher education. 14
283283 ‘‘(B) A State or local government agency 15
284284 which specializes in financial education pro-16
285285 grams. 17
286286 ‘‘(C) A nonprofit agency, organization, or 18
287287 association. 19
288288 ‘‘(D) A financial institution. 20
289289 ‘‘(E) A small organization that is 21
290290 partnering with, but is not itself, a person de-22
291291 scribed under subparagraph (A) through (D). 23
292292 ‘‘(2) I
293293 NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .— 24
294294 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 25
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298298 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High-1
299299 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).’’. 2
300300 (b) C
301301 LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 3
302302 under section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 4
303303 and Consumer Protection Act is amended by striking the 5
304304 item relating to section 1037 and inserting the following: 6
305305 ‘‘Sec. 1037. Authorization for funding the establishment of centers of excellence
306306 in financial literacy education.
307307 ‘‘Sec. 1038. Effective date.’’.
308308 Æ
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