I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2990

To establish a Commission to Educate our Nation’s Teachers and Students 

on Financial Literacy Skills. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2003

Mrs. BIGGERT (for herself, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. ROSS, 

Mr. SANDERS, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. LEE, Mr. 

BAKER, Ms. HART, Mr. OSE, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. EMANUEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To establish a Commission to Educate our Nation’s Teachers 

and Students on Financial Literacy Skills.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. COMMISSION TO EDUCATE OUR NATION’S 

4 TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ON FINANCIAL 

5 LITERACY SKILLS. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 

7 (1) A range of trends points to the need for in8 dividuals in the United States to receive a practical 

9 economics education that will give the individuals 
2

•HR 2990 IH 

1 tools to make responsible choices about their limited 

2 financial resources, choices which will impact indi3 viduals’ credit ratings. 

4 (2) An individual’s credit rating will affect his 

5 or her ability to buy a home, finance education, es6 tablish a small business and prepare for retirement. 

7 (3) Building and maintaining sound credit re8 quires knowledge of personal finance and economics. 

9 (4) Basic economics education is a key to un10 derstanding personal finance. 

11 (5) A number of Federal departments and 

12 agencies have implemented programs to improve per13 sonal finance and economics education, including the 

14 Departments of Education, Labor, Treasury, and 

15 Housing and Urban Development, as well as the 

16 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board 

17 of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the 

18 Federal Trade Commission and the Securities Ex19 change Commission. 

20 (6) Coordinating existing Federal efforts, maxi21 mizing the impact of existing private sector efforts, 

22 and identifying and promoting best practices are 

23 necessary to improve economic and personal finance 

24 education and to improve individuals’ credit and eco25 nomic well-being. 
3

•HR 2990 IH 

1 (b) AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH COMMISSION.—Not 

2 later than January 31, 2005, the President shall convene 

3 a Commission to Educate our Nation’s Teachers and Stu4 dents on Financial Literacy Skills (hereafter in this sec5 tion referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) to examine and 

6 identify government policies that promote economic and 

7 financial literacy. 

8 (c) SCOPE OF THE COMMISSION.—The scope of the 

9 Commission shall consist of issues relating to economic 

10 and financial education. 

11 (d) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Commission 

12 shall be—

13 (1) to make recommendations on integrating 

14 economic and personal finance education into pri15 mary, secondary, and postsecondary curricula; 

16 (2) to identify and make recommendations re17 garding best practices in economic and personal fi18 nance education; 

19 (3) to make recommendations on coordinating 

20 existing Federal and private sector economic and fi21 nancial literacy education programs; and 

22 (4) to carry out such other duties as the Com23 mission members deem appropriate, consistent with 

24 this Act. 
4

•HR 2990 IH 

1 (e) COMMISSION MEMBERS.—To carry out the pur2 poses of the Commission, the Commission shall include—

3 (1) three members appointed by the President, 

4 one of whom shall be designated by the President as 

5 the Chairperson of the Commission; 

6 (2) two members appointed by the Speaker of 

7 the House of Representatives; 

8 (3) two members appointed by the minority 

9 leader of the House of Representatives; 

10 (4) two members appointed by the majority 

11 leader of the Senate; and 

12 (5) two members appointed by the minority 

13 leader of the Senate. 

14 (f) APPOINTMENT REQUIREMENTS.—The Commis15 sion members shall—

16 (1) be appointed not later than January 31, 

17 2005; and 

18 (2) include at least one representative of each 

19 of the following groups: 

20 (A) Primary and secondary educators. 

21 (B) Postsecondary educators. 

22 (C) The financial services industry. 

23 (D) State and local governments. 

24 (E) organizations involved in promoting ec25 onomics education. 
5

•HR 2990 IH 

1 (g) COMMISSION ADMINISTRATION.—

2 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—In administering this 

3 section, the Chairperson of the Commission shall—

4 (A) request the cooperation and assistance 

5 of such Federal departments and agencies as 

6 may be appropriate in the carrying out of this 

7 section; 

8 (B) furnish all reasonable assistance to 

9 State agencies, area agencies, and other appro10 priate organizations to enable them to provide 

11 testimony and otherwise participate in the Com12 mission’s hearings; 

13 (C) make available for public comment a 

14 proposed agenda for the Commission that re15 flects to the greatest extent possible the pur16 poses for the Commission set out in this sec17 tion; 

18 (D) prepare and make available back19 ground materials for the use of participants in 

20 the Commission that the Chairperson considers 

21 necessary; and

22 (E) appoint and fix the pay of such addi23 tional personnel as may be necessary to carry 

24 out the provisions of this section without regard 

25 to provisions of title 5, United States Code, 
6

•HR 2990 IH 

1 governing appointments in the competitive serv2 ice, and without regard to chapter 51 and sub3 chapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating 

4 to classification and General Schedule payrates. 

5 (2) DUTIES OF THE CHAIRPERSON.—The 

6 Chairperson of the Commission shall, in carrying out 

7 the responsibilities and functions of the Chairperson 

8 under this section, ensure that—

9 (A) the Commission shall hold hearings in 

10 accordance with this section; 

11 (B) the Commission shall be conducted in 

12 a manner that ensures broad participation of 

13 Federal, State, and local agencies and private 

14 organizations, professionals, and others involved 

15 in economic education; and 

16 (C) the agenda prepared under paragraph 

17 (1)(C) for the Commission is published in the 

18 Federal Register. 

19 (3) NONAPPLICATION OF FEDERAL ADVISORY

20 COMMITTEE ACT.—The provisions of the Federal 

21 Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not 

22 apply to the Commission. 

23 (h) HEARINGS.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall hold 

25 public hearings to receive testimony related to the 
7

•HR 2990 IH 

1 recommendations to be included in the Commission’s 

2 report identified in subsection (h)(3). 

3 (2) FIELD HEARINGS.—The Commission shall 

4 conduct at least 4 hearings to be held in different 

5 States. 

6 (i) REPORT.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall pre8 pare a report describing the activities and rec9 ommendations of the Commission and shall submit 

10 the report to the President, the Speaker and Minor11 ity Leader of the House of Representatives, the Ma12 jority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, and the 

13 chief executive officers of the States not later than 

14 July 1, 2005. 

15 (2) APPROVAL OF REPORT.—Approval of the 

16 Commission’s report shall require a majority of the 

17 Commission. 

18 (3) REPORT CONTENTS.—In addition to sum19 marizing the activities of the Commission, the report 

20 shall include proposals for improving economics and 

21 finance education, including recommendations for—

22 (A) integrating high quality, standards23 based economic and financial education in the 

24 curricula of primary, secondary and postsec25 ondary education; 
8

•HR 2990 IH 

1 (B) identifying best practices in the teach2 ing of economics and personal finance including 

3 teacher training and development of curricular 

4 materials; 

5 (C) coordinating and enhancing existing 

6 federal and private sector efforts to improve 

7 economic education and financial literacy; 

8 (D) assessing and identifying best prac9 tices for the training of teachers and educators 

10 in economics and finance; and 

11 (E) developing models for public-private 

12 partnerships in the promotion of economic and 

13 finance education. 

14 (j) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

15 term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the District of Columbia, the 

16 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the 

17 Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Virgin Islands, 

18 American Samoa, and any other territory or possession 

19 of the United States. 

20 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years begin22 ning on or after October 1, 2004, such sums as are nec23 essary to carry out this section. 
9

•HR 2990 IH 

1 (l) FINANCIAL OBLIGATION FOR FISCAL YEAR

2 2005.—The financial obligation for the Commission for 

3 fiscal year 2005 shall not exceed $500,000. 

4 (m) CONTRACTS.—The Chairperson of the Commis5 sion may enter into contracts to carry out the Chair6 person’s responsibilities under this section. The Chair7 person shall enter into a contract on a sole-source basis 

8 to ensure the timely completion of the Commission’s ac9 tivities.

Æ