BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Gordon, Chair
ACR
162 (Dababneh) - As Amended April 7, 2016
SUBJECT: Financial Aid and Literacy Month
SUMMARY: Declares the month of April 2016 as Financial Aid and
Literacy Month, with the theme of "Prosperity Through
Education," to raise public awareness about the continuing need
for increased financial literacy. Specifically, this resolution
makes the following legislative findings:
1)California law requires that financial education, including
budgeting, managing credit, student loans, consumer debt, and
identity theft security, is included in the next revision of
the social sciences, health, and mathematics curricula.
2)The State of California established the Bank on California
Program to raise awareness among unbanked consumers about the
benefits of account ownership and to spur Californians to open
accounts.
3)According to American Consumer Credit Counseling, the United
States ranks 14th on the global list of financially literate
countries, behind countries like Czech Republic and Singapore.
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4)Less than 20 percent of teachers feel equipped to teach
personal finance and more than one in six pupils in the United
States do not reach the baseline level of proficiency in
financial literacy.
5)Parents serve as teenagers' biggest teachers when it comes to
money management skills. Eighty-four percent of teenagers
report looking to their parents for information on how to
manage money, but 34 percent of parents say their family's
approach to financial matters is to not discuss money with
their children.
6)According to the Council for Economic Education's 2016 Survey
of the States, student loan debt is more than $1.3 trillion,
the second largest class of consumer debt after mortgages.
7)A study by PwC and the George Washington Global Financial
Literacy Excellence Center of millennials ages 23 to 35,
inclusive found that millennials are the age group with the
lowest level of financial literacy. Only 24 percent
demonstrated basic financial literacy, and only 8 percent
demonstrated high financial literacy.
8)Many employers, government agencies, schools, service groups,
community organizations, libraries, financial institutions,
and nonprofit entities, including, but not limited to, FDIC:
Money Smart, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office
of Financial Empowerment, the California Jump$tart Coalition,
the CalCPA Institute, the New America Foundation, SparkPoint
Centers, America Saves, the United Way Financial Literacy
Program, Junior Achievement Finance Park, and the Girl Scouts
of America, have created programs to help people improve their
financial literacy skills.
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FISCAL EFFECT: None
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA)
California State Controller, Betty T. Yee
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800