Bill Text: FL S1728 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Financial Literacy Month
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-03 - Adopted [S1728 Detail]
Download: Florida-2014-S1728-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2014 (NP) SR 1728
By Senator Hukill
8-03386A-14 20141728__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution recognizing April 2014 as “Financial
3 Literacy Month” in Florida.
4
5 WHEREAS, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson dated August 23,
6 1787, John Adams recognized the need for financial literacy,
7 writing, “All the perplexities, confusions, and distresses in
8 America arise, not from defects in their constitution or
9 confederation, not from a want of honor or virtue, so much as
10 from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and
11 circulation,” and
12 WHEREAS, in 1914, the Smith-Lever Act created the
13 Cooperative Extension Service to provide a learning experience
14 that would develop skills that people needed at home, on the
15 farm, and in their communities, including financial skills, and
16 WHEREAS, in 1919, Junior Achievement, a nonprofit youth
17 organization, was founded to work with local businesses and
18 organizations to deliver financial literacy, entrepreneurship,
19 and work-readiness education, and
20 WHEREAS, the 1950s marked a time when issues relating to
21 financial management, including retirement security, composed 50
22 percent of the research that was conducted in the field of home
23 economics, with financial literacy continuing to gain greater
24 prominence in the field of education and beyond, and
25 WHEREAS, in 1995, William E. Odom, former chairman and CEO
26 of Ford Motor Credit Corporation, developed the concept that led
27 to the formation of the Jump$tart Coalition, and
28 WHEREAS, Jump$tart is a nonprofit organization that
29 includes about 150 national organizations and entities
30 consisting of corporate, nonprofit, academic, government, and
31 other groups working to advance financial literacy among
32 students in prekindergarten to college, and
33 WHEREAS, in 1996, Dr. Lewis Mandell developed the financial
34 literacy survey that now is a hallmark of the Jump$tart
35 Coalition’s work, and Dr. Mandell provided the guidelines that
36 evolved into the National Standards in K-12 Personal Financial
37 Education, and
38 WHEREAS, the Financial Literacy and Education Commission
39 was established under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions
40 Act of 2003 to improve financial literacy and to develop a
41 national strategy on financial education, and
42 WHEREAS, in 2004, the United States Senate passed
43 Resolution 316, which officially recognized April 2004 as
44 “National Financial Literacy Month,” and
45 WHEREAS, in 2004, Citigroup announced a 10-year, $200
46 million commitment to meet the growing financial education needs
47 of the communities that Citigroup served, and the American
48 Institute of Certified Public Accountants launched a unified
49 financial literacy initiative called “360 Degrees of Financial
50 Literacy” to address the widespread financial illiteracy
51 epidemic, and
52 WHEREAS, in 2008, President George W. Bush signed Executive
53 Order 13455, which created the President’s Advisory Council on
54 Financial Literacy to recommend steps that should be taken to
55 enhance the state of financial literacy in the United States,
56 and
57 WHEREAS, in 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank
58 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, creating the
59 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to promote financial
60 education, among other things, and
61 WHEREAS, in 2011, President Barack Obama designated April
62 2011 as “National Financial Literacy Month,” declaring that
63 during this month we recommit to improving financial literacy
64 and ensuring all Americans have access to trustworthy financial
65 services and products, and
66 WHEREAS, in 2012, 52 percent of teens polled said they
67 wanted to learn more about how to manage their money and that
68 they were particularly interested in learning more about basic
69 personal finance topics such as budgeting, saving, checking
70 accounts, and investing, and
71 WHEREAS, in 2013, 40 percent of adults polled gave
72 themselves a grade of C, D, or F on their knowledge of personal
73 finance, and 78 percent said they agreed that they could benefit
74 from additional advice and answers to everyday financial
75 questions from a professional, and
76 WHEREAS, today, Americans carry more than $2 trillion in
77 consumer debt, with 30 percent of consumers reporting that they
78 have no extra cash, making it impossible to escape the burden of
79 living paycheck to paycheck, and
80 WHEREAS, currently, 43 states require some form of
81 financial literacy content to be taught in high schools, with 19
82 states requiring an individual financial literacy course to be
83 offered and 17 states requiring an individual financial literacy
84 course to be taken, and
85 WHEREAS, National Financial Literacy Month is recognized in
86 the United States each April in an effort to highlight the
87 importance of financial literacy, to teach Americans how to
88 establish and maintain healthy financial habits, and to remind
89 us of the importance of teaching students how to be financially
90 savvy, empowering them to be economically successful throughout
91 their lives, NOW, THEREFORE,
92
93 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
94
95 That April 2014 is recognized as “Financial Literacy Month”
96 in Florida and that all residents of this state are urged to
97 recognize that financial literacy is an important part of our
98 students’ education in order to ensure their bright futures.
