Florida Senate - 2016                             (NP)    SR 466
       
       
        
       By Senator Hukill
       
       
       
       
       
       8-00152-16                                             2016466__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing April 2016 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 the citizens of this
    7  nation to improve their financial literacy, writing, “All the
    8  perplexities, confusions, and distresses in America arise, not
    9  from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from a
   10  want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of
   11  the nature of coin, credit, and circulation,” and
   12         WHEREAS, in 1914, the United States Congress passed the
   13  Smith-Lever Act, which created a system of cooperative extension
   14  services to provide learning experiences that would assist
   15  people in developing skills, including financial skills, which
   16  they could employ at home, on the farm, and in their
   17  communities, and
   18         WHEREAS, in 1919, Junior Achievement, a nonprofit youth
   19  organization, was founded to work with local businesses and
   20  organizations to deliver financial literacy, entrepreneurship,
   21  and work-readiness education, and
   22         WHEREAS, the 1950s marked a time when issues relating to
   23  financial management, including retirement security, composed 50
   24  percent of the research that was conducted in the field of home
   25  economics, with financial literacy continuing to gain greater
   26  prominence in the area of education and beyond, and
   27         WHEREAS, in 1995, William E. Odom, former chairman and CEO
   28  of Ford Motor Credit Corporation, developed the concept that led
   29  to the formation of the Jump$tart Coalition, a nonprofit
   30  organization that includes approximately 150 national partner
   31  organizations from the business, financial, nonprofit,
   32  association, academic, and government sectors which are working
   33  to advance the financial literacy of students from
   34  prekindergarten through college, and
   35         WHEREAS, in 1996, Lewis Mandell, Ph.D., developed the
   36  financial literacy survey that is now a hallmark of the
   37  Jump$tart Coalition’s work, providing the guidelines that
   38  evolved into the “National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance
   39  Education,” and
   40         WHEREAS, the Financial Literacy and Education Commission
   41  was established under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions
   42  Act of 2003 to improve financial literacy and to develop a
   43  national strategy on financial education, and
   44         WHEREAS, in 2004, the year in which the United States
   45  Senate passed a resolution that officially recognized April as
   46  “Financial Literacy Month,” Citigroup announced a 10-year, $200
   47  million commitment to meet the growing financial education needs
   48  of the communities that Citigroup served, and the American
   49  Institute of Certified Public Accountants and its affiliates
   50  launched the “360 Degrees of Financial Literacy” initiative to
   51  address the widespread financial illiteracy epidemic, and
   52         WHEREAS, in 2008, President George W. Bush signed an
   53  executive order that created the President’s Advisory Council on
   54  Financial Literacy to recommend steps that could be taken in
   55  order to enhance financial literacy in the United States, and
   56         WHEREAS, in 2010, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions
   57  identified financial literacy education as one of its missions
   58  and began its participation in programs like the National
   59  Endowment for Financial Education’s High School Financial
   60  Planning Program, and Biz Kid$, and
   61         WHEREAS, that same year, the United States Congress passed
   62  the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,
   63  creating the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to promote
   64  financial education, and
   65         WHEREAS, in April 2011, President Barack Obama confirmed
   66  his commitment to the observance of National Financial Literacy
   67  Month, saying, “During National Financial Literacy Month, we
   68  recommit to improving financial literacy and ensuring all
   69  Americans have access to trustworthy financial services and
   70  products,” and
   71         WHEREAS, in 2013, 40 percent of adults polled gave
   72  themselves a grade of “C,” “D,” or “F” on their knowledge of
   73  personal finance, and 78 percent said they agreed that they
   74  could benefit from additional advice and answers to everyday
   75  financial questions from a professional, and
   76         WHEREAS, in 2015, American consumers owe $11.85 trillion in
   77  debt, including $890.9 billion in credit card debt, $8.17
   78  trillion in mortgages, and $1.19 trillion in student loan debt,
   79  an increase of 7.1 percent from 2014, and
   80         WHEREAS, today, nearly half of all households in major
   81  American cities are financially vulnerable, lacking assets or
   82  adequate savings to cover basic expenses for 3 months in the
   83  event of an emergency such as a job loss or a health crisis, and
   84         WHEREAS, currently, 43 states require some form of
   85  financial literacy content to be taught in high schools, with 19
   86  states requiring that a personal financial literacy course be
   87  offered and 17 states requiring that students take a personal
   88  financial literacy course, and
   89         WHEREAS, National Financial Literacy Month is recognized
   90  each April in an effort to highlight the importance of financial
   91  literacy, to encourage Americans to establish and maintain
   92  healthy financial habits, and to remind them of the need to
   93  teach students how to be financially savvy, thereby empowering
   94  these students to be economically successful throughout their
   95  lives, NOW, THEREFORE,
   96  
   97  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   98  
   99         That April 2016 is recognized as “Financial Literacy Month”
  100  in Florida and that all residents of this state are urged to
  101  appreciate the importance of financial literacy in their
  102  everyday lives and the value of ensuring that financial literacy
  103  education is available to students.