[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 924 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 924
To establish a grant program to enhance the financial and retirement
literacy of mid-life and older Americans and to reduce financial abuse
and fraud among such Americans, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 27, 2005
Mr. Corzine (for himself, Mr. Akaka, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr.
Sarbanes, and Mr. Baucus) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a grant program to enhance the financial and retirement
literacy of mid-life and older Americans and to reduce financial abuse
and fraud among such Americans, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Education for Retirement Security
Act of 2005''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Improving financial literacy is a critical and complex
task for Americans of all ages.
(2) Low levels of savings and high levels of personal and
real estate debt are serious problems for many households
nearing retirement.
(3) Only 53 percent of working Americans have any form of
pension coverage. Three out of four women aged 65 or over
receive no income from employer-provided pensions.
(4) The more limited timeframe that mid-life and older
individuals and families have to assess the realities of their
individual circumstances, to recover from counter-productive
choices and decisionmaking processes, and to benefit from more
informed financial practices, has immediate impact and near
term consequences for Americans nearing or of retirement age.
(5) Research indicates that there are now 4 basic sources
of retirement income security. Those sources are social
security benefits, pensions and savings, healthcare insurance
coverage, and, for an increasing number of older individuals,
necessary earnings from working during one's ``retirement''
years.
(6) Over the next 30 years, the number of older individuals
in the United States is expected to double, from 35,000,000 to
nearly 75,000,000, and long-term care costs are expected to
skyrocket.
(7) Financial exploitation is the largest single category
of abuse against older individuals and this population
comprises more than \1/2\ of all telemarketing victims in the
United States.
(8) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft Data
Clearinghouse has reported that incidents of identity theft
targeting individuals over the age of 60 increased from 1,821
victims in 2000 to 21,084 victims in 2004, an increase of more
than 11 times in number.
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE FINANCIAL AND RETIREMENT LITERACY AND
REDUCE FINANCIAL ABUSE AND FRAUD AMONG MID-LIFE AND OLDER
AMERICANS.
(a) Authority.--The Secretary is authorized to award grants to
eligible entities to provide financial education programs to mid-life
and older individuals who reside in local communities in order to--
(1) enhance financial and retirement knowledge among such
individuals; and
(2) reduce financial abuse and fraud, including
telemarketing, mortgage, and pension fraud, among such
individuals.
(b) Eligible Entities.--An entity is eligible to receive a grant
under this section if such entity is--
(1) a State agency or area agency on aging; or
(2) a nonprofit organization with a proven record of
providing--
(A) services to mid-life and older individuals;
(B) consumer awareness programs; or
(C) supportive services to low-income families.
(c) Application.--An eligible entity desiring a grant under this
section shall submit an application to the Secretary in such form and
containing such information as the Secretary may require, including a
plan for continuing the programs provided with grant funds under this
section after the grant expires.
(d) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--A recipient of a grant
under this section may not use more than 4 percent of the total amount
of the grant in each fiscal year for the administrative costs of
carrying out the programs provided with grant funds under this section.
(e) Evaluation and Report.--
(1) Establishment of performance measures.--The Secretary
shall develop measures to evaluate the programs provided with
grant funds under this section.
(2) Evaluation according to performance measures.--Applying
the performance measures developed under paragraph (1), the
Secretary shall evaluate the programs provided with grant funds
under this section in order to--
(A) judge the performance and effectiveness of such
programs;
(B) identify which programs represent the best
practices of entities developing such programs for mid-
life and older individuals; and
(C) identify which programs may be replicated.
(3) Annual reports.--For each fiscal year in which a grant
is awarded under this section, the Secretary shall submit a
report to Congress containing a description of the status of
the grant program under this section, a description of the
programs provided with grant funds under this section, and the
results of the evaluation of such programs under paragraph (2).
SEC. 4. NATIONAL TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
(a) Authority.--The Secretary is authorized to award a grant to 1
or more eligible entities to--
(1) create and make available instructional materials and
information that promote financial education; and
(2) provide training and other related assistance regarding
the establishment of financial education programs to eligible
entities awarded a grant under section 3.
(b) Eligible Entities.--An entity is eligible to receive a grant
under this section if such entity is a national nonprofit organization
with substantial experience in the field of financial education.
(c) Application.--An eligible entity desiring a grant under this
section shall submit an application to the Secretary in such form and
containing such information as the Secretary may require.
(d) Basis and Term.--The Secretary shall award a grant under this
section on a competitive, merit basis for a term of 5 years.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Financial education.--The term ``financial education''
means education that promotes an understanding of consumer,
economic, and personal finance concepts, including saving for
retirement, long-term care, and estate planning and education
on predatory lending and financial abuse schemes.
(2) Mid-life individual.--The term ``mid-life individual''
means an individual aged 45 to 64 years.
(3) Older individual.--The term ``older individual'' means
an individual aged 65 or older.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Health and Human Services.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) Authorization.--There are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this Act, $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2006
through 2010.
(b) Limitation on Funds for Evaluation and Report.--The Secretary
may not use more than $200,000 of the amounts appropriated under
subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry out section 3(e).
(c) Limitation on Funds for Training and Technical Assistance.--The
Secretary may not use less than 5 percent or more than 10 percent of
amounts appropriated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry
out section 4.
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