I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3147 

To establish a grant program in the Department of the Treasury to fund 

the establishment of centers of excellence to support research, development and planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective programs 

in financial literacy education for young adults and families ages 15– 

24 years old, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2009 

Mr. CARSON of Indiana (for himself, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. 

SESTAK, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. WATERS, Ms. BORDALLO, 

Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. REYES, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. 

MEEK of Florida, and Mr. ELLISON) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to 

the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program in the Department of the 

Treasury to fund the establishment of centers of excellence to support research, development and planning, 

implementation, and evaluation of effective programs in 

financial literacy education for young adults and families 

ages 15–24 years old, 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 ‘‘Young Adults Finan3 cial Literacy Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress find as follows: 

6 (1) Eighty percent of parents believe schools 

7 are teaching money management and budgeting, 

8 while over 70 percent of teachers are not teaching 

9 financial literacy. 

10 (2) Most adults feel that their financial literacy 

11 skills are inadequate, yet they do not rely on anyone 

12 else to handle their finances; they feel it is impor13 tant to know more but have received no financial 

14 education. 

15 (3) It is necessary to respond immediately to 

16 the pressing needs of individuals faced with the loss 

17 of their financial stability, however increased atten18 tion must also be paid to financial literacy education 

19 reform and long-term solutions to prevent future 

20 personal financial disasters. 

21 (4) There is an urgent need to respond to the 

22 economic crisis with research-based financial literacy 

23 education programs to reach individuals at all ages 

24 and socioeconomic levels, particularly those facing 

25 unique and challenging financial situations, such as 

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1 to-be and recent college graduates, young families, 

2 and the unique needs of military personnel and their 

3 families. 

4 (5) More than 70 percent of parents say they 

5 have spoken with their teens about credit and using 

6 credit cards wisely, while less than 44 percent of the 

7 teenaged children of those respondents say their par8 ents have talked to them about credit cards. 

9 (6) Seventy-six percent of parents surveyed said 

10 their high school student does not have a budget. 

11 (7) The average credit card debt among grad12 uate students who carry cards is $7,831 per student, 

13 an increase of 59 percent over 1998’s average debt 

14 of $4,925. 

15 (8) Young adults between 20 and 24 represent 

16 the fastest growing segment of bankruptcy filings; in 

17 fact, more people filed for bankruptcy in 2004 than 

18 graduated from college. 

19 (9) Credit card debt among young adults be20 tween the ages of 25 and 34 has increased 55 per21 cent, while credit card debt among the youngest 

22 adults, between 18 and 24, has skyrocketed 104 per23 cent since 1982. 

24 (10) In April of 2009, the Comptroller General 

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1 ernment Management, the Federal Workforce, and 

2 the District of Columbia, of the Committee on 

3 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

4 Senate that ‘‘In 2006, we reported that the [Finan5 cial Literacy and Education] Commission’s National 

6 Strategy for Financial Literacy was a useful first 

7 step in focusing attention on financial literacy but 

8 largely was descriptive rather than strategic. . . . 

9 However, to date the Commission has not incor10 porated the other elements we recommended. . . . 

11 For the most part, these revisions have consisted of 

12 newly developed ‘calls to action’ and have not rep13 resented a fundamental shift in approach that incor14 porates specific recommendations on roles, funding, 

15 and activities.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM TO FUND THE ESTABLISHMENT 

17 OF CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN FINANCIAL 

18 LITERACY EDUCATION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury, 

20 acting through the Assistant Secretary for Financial Insti21 tutions and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial 

22 Education and in consultation with the Secretary of Edu23 cation and the Financial Literacy and Education Commis24 sion established under the Financial Literacy and Edu25 cation Improvement Act, may make competitive grants to 


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1 and enter into contracts with eligible institutions to estab2 lish centers of excellence to support research, development 

3 and planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective 

4 programs in financial literacy education for young adults 

5 and families ages 15–24 years old. 

6 (b) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Activities authorized 

7 to be funded by grants made under subsection (a) shall 

8 include the following: 

9 (1) Developing and implementing comprehen10 sive research based financial literacy education pro11 grams for young adults ages 15–24 which can be in12 corporated into educational settings through existing 

13 academic content areas. 

14 (2) Targeting programs based on a set of edu15 cational expectations, pre- and post-education as16 sessment tools, effective training programs for edu17 cators, and materials that appropriately serve var18 ious segments of young adult and family popu19 lations, particularly minority and disadvantaged in20 dividuals. 

21 (3) Aligning financial literacy education pro22 grams to a set of core competencies and concepts, 

23 including goal setting; planning; budgeting; man24 aging money or transactions; tools and structures; 


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1 behaviors; consequences; saving, both long- and 

2 short-term; managing debt and earning. 

3 (4) Designing instructional materials using evi4 dence-based content for young families and related 

5 outreach activities to address unique life situations 

6 and financial pitfalls such as bankruptcy, fore7 closure, credit card misuse, and predatory lending. 

8 (5) Developing and supporting the delivery of 

9 professional development programs in financial lit10 eracy education that are research-based, on-going 

11 and collaborative to assure competence and account12 ability in the delivery system, including recognition 

13 of achievement and competence within existing sys14 tems for educators and instructors. 

15 (6) Improving access to financial literacy edu16 cation programs for young adults and families by 

17 collaborating with financial institutions to dissemi18 nate information and awareness of the importance of 

19 financial literacy education. 

20 (7) Reducing student loan default rates by de21 veloping programs to help individuals better under22 stand how to manage educational debt through sus23 tained educational programs for college students in 

24 partnership with non-profit associations. 


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1 (8) Conducting on-going research and evalua2 tion to assure learning of defined skills and knowl3 edge, and retention of learning. 

4 (9) Developing research-based assessment and 

5 accountability of the appropriate applications of 

6 learning over short and long terms. 

7 (c) PRIORITY FOR CERTAIN APPLICATIONS.—The 

8 Secretary shall give a priority to applications that— 

9 (1) provide clear definitions of financial literacy 

10 and financially literate to clarify educational out11 comes; 

12 (2) establish parameters for identifying the 

13 types of programs that most effectively reach young 

14 adults and families in unique life situations, specifi15 cally individuals in ages 15–24 years old; 

16 (3) include content that is appropriate to age 

17 and socioeconomic levels; 

18 (4) develop programs based on educational 

19 standards, definitions, and research; 

20 (5) include individual goals of financial inde21 pendence and stability; and 

22 (6) establish professional development and de23 livery systems using evidence-based practices. 

24 (d) APPLICATION AND EVALUATION STANDARDS AND

25 PROCEDURES, DISTRIBUTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary 


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1 shall, by regulation and order, establish application and 

2 evaluation standards and procedures, distribution criteria, 

3 and such other forms, standards, definitions, and proce4 dures as the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

5 (e) MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ANY

6 GRANT.—No grant under this section may be for an 

7 amount less than $2,000,000 or more than $5,000,000. 

8 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act the fol9 lowing definitions shall apply: 

10 (1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi11 ble institution’’ means any partnership consisting of 

12 an institution of higher education and any of the fol13 lowing which meets such requirements for eligibility 

14 as the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary 

15 of Education may jointly prescribe by regulation: 

16 (A) One or more local educational agen17 cies. 

18 (B) A nonprofit agency, organization, or 

19 association. 

20 (C) A community-based organization. 

21 (D) A financial institution. 

22 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

23 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

24 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High25 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 


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1 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of the Treasury, unless the context 

3 specifically refers to the Secretary of Education. 

4 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec6 retary $55,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 

7 2014 for carrying out this Act. 

8 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 

9 In addition to regulations prescribed under section 

10 3(d), the Secretary may prescribe such regulations as may 

11 be necessary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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