[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3866 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3866

  To establish a grant program to enhance the economic and financial 
    literacy of midlife and older Americans so as to enhance their 
retirement security and to reduce financial abuse and fraud among such 
                   Americans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            September 7 (legislative day, September 6), 2006

Mr. Akaka (for himself, Mr. Lautenberg, Ms. Stabenow, 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 economic and financial 
    literacy of midlife and older Americans so as to enhance their 
retirement security 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 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Improving economic and 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) Historically, Americans are living longer than ever 
        before. However, most Americans are retiring before the age of 
        65.
            (4) Research suggests that many Americans are not prepared 
        to plan for their retirement and may have to work far longer 
        than they expect in order to be financially secure in 
        retirement.
            (5) In 2005, only 42 percent of workers or their spouses 
        calculated the amount they needed to save for retirement, down 
        from 53 percent in 2000.
            (6) Only 53 percent of working Americans have any form of 
        pension coverage. Three out of 4 women aged 65 or older receive 
        no income from employer-provided pensions.
            (7) The limited timeframe that midlife and older 
        individuals and families have to assess the realities of their 
        individual circumstances, to recover from counterproductive 
        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.
            (8) 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.
            (9) 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.
            (10) 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.
            (11) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft Data 
        Clearinghouse has reported that incidents of identity theft 
        targeting individuals older than 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. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Alaska native corporation.--The term ``Alaska Native 
        Corporation'' has the same meaning as the term ``Native 
        Corporation'' under section 3 of the Alaska Native Claim 
        Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602).
            (2) Economic and financial education.--The term ``economic 
        and financial education'' means education that--
                    (A) promotes an understanding of consumer, 
                economic, and personal finance concepts, including--
                            (i) basic economic concepts such as supply 
                        and demand and opportunity cost; and
                            (ii) basic financial literacy concepts such 
                        as the importance of budgeting and money 
                        management, saving, retirement planning, and 
                        maintaining good credit;
                    (B) includes information regarding predatory 
                lending and financial abuse schemes; and
                    (C) is based on recognized economic and financial 
                education standards.
            (3) Eligible area entity.--The term ``eligible area 
        entity'' means an entity that is--
                    (A) a State agency, area agency on aging, Indian 
                tribal organization, Alaska Native Corporation, or 
                Native Hawaiian organization;
                    (B) a nonprofit organization with a proven record 
                of providing--
                            (i) services to midlife and older 
                        individuals;
                            (ii) consumer awareness programs; or
                            (iii) supportive services to low-income 
                        families; or
                    (C) a partnership comprised of 2 or more entities 
                described in subparagraph (A) or (B).
            (4) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a 
        national organization with substantial experience in the field 
        of economic and financial education.
            (5) Midlife.--The term ``midlife'', when used with respect 
        to an individual, means an individual aged 45 to 64 years.
            (6) Native hawaiian organization.--The term ``Native 
        Hawaiian organization'' means any organization that--
                    (A) serves and represents the interests of Native 
                Hawaiians; and
                    (B) has as a primary and stated purpose the 
                provision of services to Native Hawaiians.
            (7) Older.--The term ``older'', when used with respect to 
        an individual, means an individual aged 65 or older.
            (8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services.

SEC. 4. PURPOSE AND GOALS.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to promote economic and 
financial literacy among midlife and older individuals, and to reduce 
financial abuse and fraud among such individuals, through providing 
assistance to organizations for economic and financial education 
programs.
    (b) Goals.--The goals of this Act are--
            (1) to increase the knowledge of economic and financial 
        literacy among midlife and older individuals to enable the 
        individuals to make informed financial decisions; and
            (2) to reduce the amount of financial abuse and fraud among 
        midlife and older individuals.

SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL, AND RETIREMENT 
              LITERACY AND REDUCE FINANCIAL ABUSE AND FRAUD AMONG 
              MIDLIFE AND OLDER AMERICANS.

    (a) Program Authorized.--From amounts appropriated under section 8, 
the Secretary is authorized to award a grant to a national entity to 
enable the national entity to carry out the subgrant program for 
economic and financial education under section 6.
    (b) Application.--A national entity desiring a grant under this 
section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 
such form, and containing such information as the Secretary may 
require, including a plan for continuing to carry out the program under 
this section after the grant expires.
    (c) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--A national entity 
receiving a grant under this section may not use more than 5 percent of 
the total amount of the grant for each fiscal year for the 
administrative costs of carrying out the program under this section.
    (d) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall evaluate the programs that 
receive grant funds under this section in order to judge the 
performance of such programs.
    (e) Report.--For each fiscal year for which grants are awarded 
under this section, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress 
a report on the program under this section, which report shall include 
information from the evaluation under subsection (d) and the 
evaluations under section 6(e).

SEC. 6. SUBGRANT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL, AND RETIREMENT 
              LITERACY AND REDUCE FINANCIAL ABUSE AND FRAUD AMONG 
              MIDLIFE AND OLDER AMERICANS.

    (a) Subgrants Authorized.--A national entity that receives a grant 
under section 5 shall use grant funds to award subgrants to eligible 
area entities to enable the eligible area entities to deliver economic 
and financial education programs to midlife 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, and identity theft 
        among such individuals.
    (b) Application.--An eligible area entity desiring a subgrant under 
this section shall submit an application to the national entity 
awarding the subgrants at such time, in such form, and containing such 
information as the national entity may require, including a plan for 
continuing the programs assisted with subgrant funds under this section 
after the subgrant expires.
    (c) Award Basis.--In awarding subgrants under this section, a 
national entity shall--
            (1) give special consideration to eligible area entities 
        that are partnerships described in section 3(3)(C); and
            (2) give priority to programs previously funded by a 
        subgrant under this section that the Secretary judges effective 
        under the evaluation described in subsection (e)(2)(A).
    (d) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--An eligible area entity 
receiving a subgrant under this section may not use more than 5 percent 
of the total amount of the subgrant in each fiscal year for the 
administrative costs of carrying out the program under this section.
    (e) Evaluation and Report.--
            (1) Establishment of performance measures.--A national 
        entity awarding subgrants under this section shall develop 
        measures to evaluate the programs that receive subgrant funds.
            (2) Evaluation according to performance measures.--Applying 
        the performance measures developed under paragraph (1), a 
        national entity awarding subgrants under this section shall 
        evaluate the programs that receive subgrant funds 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 
                midlife and older individuals;
                    (C) identify which programs may be replicated; and
                    (D) assess any behavioral change, as well as asset 
                accumulation, made by program participants.
            (3) Submission to congress.--For each fiscal year for which 
        a national entity awards subgrants under this section, the 
        national entity shall submit to the Secretary a report 
        containing--
                    (A) a description of the status of the subgrant 
                program under this section;
                    (B) a description of the programs provided with 
                subgrant funds under this section; and
                    (C) the results of the evaluation of such programs 
                under paragraph (2).

SEC. 7. 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 economic and financial education; and
            (2) provide training and other related assistance regarding 
        the establishment of economic and financial education programs 
        to eligible area entities awarded a subgrant under section 6.
    (b) Application.--An eligible entity desiring a grant under this 
section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 
such form, and containing such information as the Secretary may 
require.
    (c) Basis and Term.--The Secretary shall award a grant under this 
section on a competitive, merit basis for a term of 3 years.

SEC. 8. 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 2007 
through 2010.
    (b) Limitation on Funds for Evaluation and Report.--The Secretary 
may not use more than $500,000 of the amounts appropriated under 
subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry out section 6(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 
the amounts appropriated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year to 
carry out section 7.
                                 <all>