[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 531 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 531

 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2007

  Mr. Lynch introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 ``Retirement Security Education Act of 
2007''.

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. Personal savings rates have fallen to a 
        dangerously low 2 percent.
            (3) Approximately half of working Americans have any form 
        of pension coverage. Today, just 21 percent of workers have 
        defined benefit coverage and just 27 percent of workers are 
        enrolled in 401(k)s.
            (4) Because women have longer life expectancies, the number 
        of poor older women is more than twice the number of poor older 
        men. Studies have also found that there is a substantial gender 
        gap in all sources of retirement income including Social 
        Security, pensions, savings and earnings from post-retirement 
        employment.
            (5) The more limited time frame that mid-life and older 
        individuals and families have to assess the realities of their 
        individual circumstances, to recover from counter-productive 
        choices and decision-making processes, and to benefit from more 
        informed financial practices, has immediate impact and near 
        term consequences for Americans nearing or of retirement age.
            (6) 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 ``retirement'' years.
            (7) The Congressional Budget Office has found that about a 
        quarter of baby-boomer households have so far failed to 
        accumulate significant savings and that they appear likely to 
        depend entirely on government benefits in retirement.
            (8) 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.
            (9) Over the next 25 years, the number of individuals over 
        65 years of age requiring long term care services is expected 
        to double to approximately 12 million.
            (10) Fraud against older individuals, including 
        telemarketing schemes, predatory lending, identity theft and 
        Internet fraud has risen dramatically.

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 and promote knowledge of financial issues, 
        long-term care, and retirement issues 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 non-profit organization organized under section 
        501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 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 nonprofit organization organized 
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 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.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that, in providing assistance under 
this Act, the Secretary should place a high priority on the provision 
of such assistance to organizations that have demonstrated experience 
in providing financial education to older women.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Area agency on aging.--The term ``area agency on 
        aging'' has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the 
        Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002).
            (2) 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, identity theft, and financial abuse 
        schemes.
            (3) Mid-life individual.--The term ``mid-life individual'' 
        means an individual aged 45 to 64 years.
            (4) Older individual.--The term ``older individual'' means 
        an individual aged 65 or older.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services.
            (6) State agency.--The term ``State agency'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 102 of the Older Americans 
        Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002).

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Authorization.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act, $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 
2012.
    (b) Limitation on Funds for Evaluation and Report.--The Secretary 
may use to carry out section 3(e) not more than $200,000 of the amount 
appropriated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year.
    (c) Limitation on Funds for Training and Technical Assistance.--The 
Secretary shall use to carry out section 4 not less than 5 percent, and 
not more than 10 percent, of the amount appropriated under subsection 
(a) for each fiscal year.
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