I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3520

To reduce duplication in Federal financial literacy and financial programs, 

identify more effective ways to provide financial education, and facilitate 

greater cooperation at the Federal, State and local levels and between 

government units and entities in the private sector by requiring the 

establishment of a national strategy for assuring financial education, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2003

Mrs. KELLY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To reduce duplication in Federal financial literacy and financial programs, identify more effective ways to provide 

financial education, and facilitate greater cooperation at 

the Federal, State and local levels and between government units and entities in the private sector by requiring 

the establishment of a national strategy for assuring 

financial education, and for other purposes.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategy for Assuring 

3 Financial Empowerment Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. STRATEGY FOR ASSURING FINANCIAL EDUCATION. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Congress finds it is im7 perative to—

8 (A) reduce overlap and duplication in Fed9 eral financial literacy and financial education 

10 programs and in public and private educational 

11 activities, in order to increase effectiveness and 

12 coordination and to better utilize resources; 

13 (B) identify the most effective types of 

14 public sector financial literacy programs and 

15 techniques as measured by improved consumer 

16 decision-making; 

17 (C) coordinate and promote financial lit18 eracy and financial education efforts at the 

19 State and local level, including partnerships be20 tween Federal, State and local governments, 

21 non-profit organizations and private enterprises; 

22 (D) obtain recommendations for inte23 grating economic education and personal-fi24 nance education into primary, secondary and 

25 post-secondary curricula; and 
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1 (E) provide multilingual materials and pro2 grams under the strategy for assuring financial 

3 education whenever appropriate in order to ef4 fectively reach the broadest number of people. 

5 (2) ADDITIONAL FINDINGS.—The Congress also 

6 finds that as many as 1 in 10 American families, or 

7 about 10,000,000 households, do not have a rela8 tionship with a traditional financial institution such 

9 as a bank, thrift institution, or credit union, despite 

10 the significant advantages of such a relationship, in11 cluding the following: 

12 (A) The establishment of a deposit account 

13 with a financial institution leads to greater 

14 knowledge of personal financial fundamentals. 

15 (B) Account ownership provides an oppor16 tunity to build assets, because a deposit account 

17 is a tool that can be used to save for home18 ownership, educational opportunities, or retire19 ment. 

20 (C) The unbanked typically pay higher 

21 costs in transaction fees for financial services 

22 than do individuals with banking relationships. 

23 (D) Opening and maintaining an account 

24 with a financial institution provides opportuni25 ties to obtain other products and services—such 
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1 as home loans, car loans, education loans, or 

2 small business loans—from the institution, and 

3 can help individuals establish a credit history 

4 for their future borrowing needs. 

5 (E) Owning an account provides a record 

6 of financial transactions that can be drawn on 

7 in the case of a dispute. 

8 (F) Account ownership provides the oppor9 tunity for safer, more secure types of financial 

10 transactions, such as direct deposit and check11 writing, reducing the risk that paychecks could 

12 be stolen or lost and reducing the risk of be13 coming the victim of a robbery or burglary trig14 gered by carrying large sums of cash. 

15 (b) DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSMITTAL TO THE CON16 GRESS.—

17 (1) DEVELOPMENT.—The President, acting 

18 through the Secretary of the Treasury, the Office of 

19 Financial Education established by the Secretary in 

20 the Department of the Treasury, and in consultation 

21 with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop22 ment and other officials of the administration, as 

23 appropriate, shall develop a national strategy for fi24 nancial education, to be known as the Strategy for 
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1 Assuring Financial Empowerment (hereinafter in 

2 this section referred to as the ‘‘SAFE strategy’’). 

3 (2) TRANSMITTAL TO THE CONGRESS.—By 

4 February 1 of 2005 and by that date of each suc5 ceeding year, the President shall transmit to the 

6 Congress a national strategy developed in accord7 ance with paragraph (1). 

8 (3) APPEARANCE BEFORE THE CONGRESS.—

9 Before March 1, 2004, and before March 1 of each 

10 subsequent year, the Secretary of Treasury shall ap11 pear before the Committee on Financial Services of 

12 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

13 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 

14 at hearings regarding the development of a national 

15 strategy for assuring financial education. 

16 (4) WORKING GROUP.—The first national strat17 egy transmitted to the Congress in 2005 shall con18 tain recommendations and a proposal for forming a 

19 Financial Literacy and Education Working Group to 

20 be chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

21 (c) ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED.—The SAFE strat22 egy shall address any area the President considers appro23 priate, acting through the Secretary of the Treasury, the 

24 Office of Financial Education established by the Secretary 

25 in the Department of the Treasury, and in consultation
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1 with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 

2 the Financial Literacy and Education Working Group es3 tablished pursuant to the proposal under subsection 

4 (b)(4), and other officials of the administration, as appro5 priate, including the following: 

6 (1) GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND PRIORITIES.—

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Comprehensive, re8 search-based goals, objectives, and priorities for 

9 increasing the financial literacy of all citizens, 

10 with particular attention to those with low and 

11 moderate incomes, Native Americans, immi12 grants, youths from ages 10–25 and those of 

13 pre-retirement age. 

14 (B) GOALS TO BE INCLUDED.—Such goals 

15 shall include helping individuals, especially 

16 those in the target groups, learn to develop—

17 (i) access to and responsible use of ac18 counts at financial institutions; 

19 (ii) knowledge of the credit-granting 

20 process, including the importance and ben21 efits of building credit; 

22 (iii) homeownership; 

23 (iv) planning for unexpected cir24 cumstances, further education, retirement 

25 and estate planning; 
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1 (v) budgets and long-range financial 

2 planning; 

3 (vi) an appreciation of the value of 

4 charitable giving; 

5 (vii) an understanding of the impact 

6 of taxes on earned income and intelligent 

7 planning to minimize the effects of taxes; 

8 (viii) a strategy for and an apprecia9 tion of the value of broad-based, well10 planned, long-term investments; and 

11 (ix) patterns of responsible borrowing 

12 and consumer behavior. 

13 (2) COORDINATION.—Coordination of financial 

14 education efforts and programs within the Executive 

15 Branch and with the Board of Governors of the 

16 Federal Reserve System, the Securities and Ex17 change Commission, other Federal banking agencies, 

18 the National Credit Union Administration Board, 

19 and such other Federal agencies as the Secretary of 

20 the Treasury determines to be appropriate. 

21 (3) COORDINATION WITH AND ENHANCEMENT

22 OF THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE FINANCIAL SECTOR

23 IN FINANCIAL EDUCATION.—The enhancement of 

24 partnerships between the private government agen-
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1 cies and both the financial sector and nongovern2 ment agencies with regard to financial education. 

3 (4) ENHANCEMENT OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL

4 COOPERATION.—The enhancement of—

5 (A) cooperative efforts between the Federal 

6 Government and State and local officials, in7 cluding State and local regulators and edu8 cators; and 

9 (B) cooperative efforts among the several 

10 States and between State and local officials, in11 cluding State and local regulators and edu12 cators which could be utilized or should be en13 couraged. 

14 (5) PROJECT AND BUDGET PRIORITIES.—A 3-

15 year projection for program and budget priorities 

16 and achievable projects for improving financial edu17 cation. 

18 (6) ASSESSMENT OF FUNDING.—A complete as19 sessment of how the proposed budget is intended to 

20 implement the strategy, and whether the funding 

21 levels contained in the proposed budget are sufficient 

22 to implement the strategy. 

23 (7) DATA REGARDING TRENDS IN FINANCIAL

24 EDUCATION.—The need for timely, accurate, and 

25 complete information necessary for the purpose of 
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1 developing and analyzing data in order to ascertain 

2 trends in the need for financial education. 

3 (8) IMPROVED COMMUNICATIONS.—A plan for 

4 enhancing the communication between the Federal 

5 Government and State and local governments re6 garding financial education. 

7 (d) EFFECTIVENESS REPORT.—At the time each na8 tional SAFE strategy for financial education is trans9 mitted by the President to the Congress (other than the 

10 first transmission of any such strategy) pursuant to sub11 section (b), the Secretary shall submit a report containing 

12 an evaluation of the effectiveness of policies to enhance 

13 financial education and reach the goals outlined in sub14 section (c). 

15 (e) CONSULTATIONS.—In addition to the consulta16 tions required under this section with the Secretary of 

17 Housing and Urban Development, in developing the na18 tional SAFE strategy for financial education, the Sec19 retary shall consult with—

20 (1) the Board of Governors of the Federal Re21 serve System and other Federal banking agencies 

22 and the National Credit Union Administration 

23 Board; 

24 (2) State and local officials, including State and 

25 local regulators and educators; 
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1 (3) the Securities and Exchange Commission; 

2 (4) the Commodities and Futures Trading 

3 Commission; 

4 (5) the Secretary of Education; 

5 (6) to the extent possible, the finance ministers 

6 of foreign governments; 

7 (7) to the extent appropriate, State and local 

8 officials responsible for financial institution and fi9 nancial market regulation; 

10 (8) any other State or local government author11 ity, to the extent appropriate; 

12 (9) any other Federal Government authority or 

13 instrumentality, to the extent appropriate 

14 (10) representatives of the private financial 

15 services sector, to the extent appropriate; 

16 (11) the Secretary of Agriculture; 

17 (12) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv18 ices; 

19 (13) the Secretary of Defense; 

20 (14) the Secretary of Labor; 

21 (15) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 

22 (16) the Chairman of the Federal Trade Com23 mission; 

24 (17) the Commissioner of Social Security, the 

25 Social Security Administration; 
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1 (18) the Administrator of the Small Business 

2 Administration; 

3 (19) the Director of the Office of Personnel 

4 Management; 

5 (20) the Federal Housing Commissioner; 

6 (21) State insurance commissioners working 

7 through the National Association of Insurance Com8 missioners; 

9 (22) the Advertising Council; and 

10 (23) the heads of Federal, State and local gov11 ernment programs, and privately run programs, 

12 which have the purpose of—

13 (A) getting the unbanked to participate in 

14 the banking system; and 

15 (B) encouraging recipients of State or 

16 Federal assistance programs to move away from 

17 receiving their programs via paper checks and 

18 towards receiving such payments electronically. 

19 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the 

21 Treasury for fiscal years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 

22 and 2009 such sums as may be necessary to carry out 

23 the requirements of this section.

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