| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to assistance and education regarding personal finance for |
|
|
certain children in foster care. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 264.121, Family Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsections (a-1) and (f) and adding Subsection (a-2) to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(a-1) The department shall require a foster care provider to |
|
|
provide or assist youth who are age 14 or older in obtaining |
|
|
experiential life-skills training to improve their transition to |
|
|
independent living. Experiential life-skills training must be |
|
|
tailored to a youth's skills and abilities and may include training |
|
|
in practical activities that include grocery shopping, meal |
|
|
preparation and cooking, using public transportation, and |
|
|
performing basic household tasks[, and balancing a checkbook]. |
|
|
(a-2) The experiential life-skills training under |
|
|
Subsection (a-1) must include a financial literacy education |
|
|
program that: |
|
|
(1) includes instruction on: |
|
|
(A) obtaining and interpreting a credit score; |
|
|
(B) protecting, repairing, and improving a |
|
|
credit score; |
|
|
(C) avoiding predatory lending practices; |
|
|
(D) saving money and accomplishing financial |
|
|
goals through prudent financial management practices; |
|
|
(E) using basic banking and accounting skills, |
|
|
including balancing a checkbook; |
|
|
(F) using debit and credit cards responsibly; |
|
|
(G) understanding a paycheck and items withheld |
|
|
from a paycheck; and |
|
|
(H) protecting financial, credit, and |
|
|
identifying information in personal and professional |
|
|
relationships; and |
|
|
(2) assists a youth who has a source of income to |
|
|
establish a savings plan and, if available, a savings account that |
|
|
the youth can independently manage. |
|
|
(f) The department shall require a person with whom the |
|
|
department contracts for transitional living services for foster |
|
|
youth to provide or assist youth in obtaining: |
|
|
(1) housing services; |
|
|
(2) job training and employment services; |
|
|
(3) college preparation services; |
|
|
(4) services that will assist youth in obtaining a |
|
|
general education development certificate; [and] |
|
|
(5) a savings or checking account if the youth is at |
|
|
least 18 years of age and has a source of income; and |
|
|
(6) any other appropriate transitional living service |
|
|
identified by the department. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |