Consumer Financial Education and Empowerment Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6012 To require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to establish a grant program to facilitate financial literacy programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 27, 2020 Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia (for himself, Mr. STIVERS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. HILL of Arkansas, Ms. DEAN, and Mr. LOUDERMILK) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to establish a grant program to facilitate fi- nancial literacy programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Financial 4 Education and Empowerment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINANCIAL LITERACY GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bu- 8 reau of Consumer Financial Protection shall establish a 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6012 IH program to award grants on a competitive basis to eligible 1 entities to facilitate financial literacy programs as de- 2 scribed in subsection (d). 3 (b) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to 4 be awarded a grant under the program established under 5 subsection (a), an eligible entity shall submit an applica- 6 tion to the Director at such time, in such manner, and 7 containing such information as the Director may require, 8 including information on— 9 (1) the curriculum and design of the financial 10 literacy program proposed by the eligible entity, in- 11 cluding a description of how such program meets the 12 requirements of subsection (d); 13 (2) expected participants in the proposed finan- 14 cial literacy program; 15 (3) who is expected to be employed or otherwise 16 involved with the proposed financial literacy pro- 17 gram, including— 18 (A) administrators; 19 (B) consultants; and 20 (C) financial advisors; and 21 (4) a prospective budget for the proposed finan- 22 cial literacy program. 23 (c) GRANTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6012 IH (1) AMOUNTS.—The Director shall determine 1 the amount of each grant awarded under the pro- 2 gram established under subsection (a). 3 (2) TERM.—A grant awarded under the pro- 4 gram established under subsection (a) shall be for a 5 term of 12 months. 6 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding grants 7 under the program established under subsection (a), 8 the Director may consider whether the proposed fi- 9 nancial literacy program of an applicant would ad- 10 dress the types of abuse that result in a penalty 11 being deposited into the Consumer Financial Civil 12 Penalty Fund established under section 1017(d) of 13 the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 14 Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 5497(d)). 15 (4) RENEWAL.—An eligible entity may apply to 16 renew a grant awarded under the program estab- 17 lished under subsection (a) by submitting to the Di- 18 rector a simplified renewal application that shall re- 19 ceive expedited review. 20 (5) BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTEC- 21 TION ANNUAL FINANCIAL LITERACY REPORT.—In 22 awarding grants under this section, the Director 23 shall consider information provided by the annual re- 24 port that is required under section 1013(d)(4) of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6012 IH Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Pro- 1 tection Act (12 U.S.C. 5493(d)(4)). 2 (d) FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM DESCRIBED.— 3 A financial literacy program described in this subsection 4 is a program that provides the following: 5 (1) Instruction to participants, including indi- 6 viduals who provide instruction with respect to fi- 7 nancial literacy education, on one or more of the fol- 8 lowing: 9 (A) Personal financial wellness. 10 (B) Credit and alternatives to credit. 11 (C) Management of student loan debt. 12 (D) Financial counseling for individuals 13 who seek to attend a college, university, or vo- 14 cational school. 15 (E) Preparation for homeownership. 16 (F) Basic investing. 17 (G) Financial saving, planning, and man- 18 agement. 19 (H) Tax planning. 20 (I) Personal information security. 21 (J) Preparation for retirement. 22 (K) Entrepreneurship assistance or assist- 23 ance in starting a business. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6012 IH (L) Other topics as determined by the Di- 1 rector. 2 (2) An in-person instruction component that— 3 (A) may be provided as a webinar, an in- 4 classroom experience, or one-on-one financial 5 coaching; 6 (B) includes— 7 (i) live, real-time instruction; and 8 (ii) an opportunity for students to en- 9 gage with an instructor; and 10 (C) is not primarily comprised of self- 11 taught instruction. 12 (e) FUNDING.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall, in ac- 14 cordance with section 1017(d) of the Dodd-Frank 15 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 16 (12 U.S.C. 5497(d)), use amounts in the Consumer 17 Financial Civil Penalty Fund to carry out this Act. 18 (2) AMOUNTS.—To carry out this Act, the Di- 19 rector shall use until expended not less than— 20 (A) in fiscal year 2021, $50,000,000; and 21 (B) in each allocation period starting after 22 fiscal year 2021, the lessor of— 23 (i) $25,000,000; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6012 IH (ii) after allocation to victims has 1 been determined for the prior allocation 2 period, 50 percent of the remaining 3 amounts collected during the prior alloca- 4 tion period. 5 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6 1017(d)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 7 and Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 8 5497(d)(2)) is amended— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘, the Bureau may use’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘, the Bureau— 11 ‘‘(A) may use’’; 12 (B) by striking ‘‘programs.’’ and inserting 13 ‘‘programs; and’’; and 14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(B) shall use such funds for the grant 16 program established by the Consumer Financial 17 Education and Empowerment Act.’’. 18 (f) FINANCIAL LITERACY AND EDUCATION COMMIS- 19 SION REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the Director 20 establishes the program under subsection (a), and every 21 5 years thereafter, the Financial Literacy and Education 22 Commission shall submit to Congress and the Director a 23 report that provides recommendations on how to improve 24 such program. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6012 IH (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 (1) ALLOCATION PERIOD.—The term ‘‘alloca- 2 tion period’’ means the biannual allocation period of 3 funds to a class of victims that occurs according to 4 the schedule established pursuant to section 5 1075.105(b) of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations 6 (or any successor regulation). 7 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 8 means the Financial Literacy and Education Com- 9 mission, established under title V of the Fair and 10 Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (20 11 U.S.C. 9701 et seq.). 12 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 13 the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 14 Protection. 15 (4) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 16 ty’’ means— 17 (A) a State government, local government, 18 or agency of a State or local government; or 19 (B) a nonprofit organization that— 20 (i) has knowledge of personal financial 21 management; 22 (ii) has experience providing financial 23 education; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6012 IH (iii) has a history of achieving goals 1 and objectives of financial literacy pro- 2 grams. 3 (5) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 4 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization that 5 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev- 6 enue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)) and is ex- 7 empt from taxation under section 501(a) of such 8 Code. 9 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 10 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 11 each territory or possession of the United States, 12 and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6012.IH H6012 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS