PUBLIC LAW 109–247—JULY 27, 2006

LOUIS BRAILLE BICENTENNIAL—BRAILLE

LITERACY COMMEMORATIVE COIN ACT

120 STAT. 582 PUBLIC LAW 109–247—JULY 27, 2006

Public Law 109–247

109th Congress

An Act

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of Louis

Braille.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Louis Braille Bicentennial—

Braille Literacy Commemorative Coin Act’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) Louis Braille, who invented the Braille method for

reading and writing by the blind that has allowed millions

of blind people to be literate participants in their societies,

was born in Coupvray, a small village near Paris, on January

4, 1809.

(2) Braille lost his sight at the age of three after injuring

himself with an awl in the shop of his father Rene, a maker

of harnesses and other objects of leather.

(3) A youth who was both intelligent and creative and

was blessed with dedicated parents, a thoughtful local priest

and an energetic local schoolteacher, Braille adapted to the

situation and attended local school with other youths of his

age, an unheard-of practice for a blind child of the period.

(4) At the age of 10, when his schooling otherwise would

have stopped, Braille—with the aid of the priest and schoolteacher—was given a scholarship by a local nobleman and

went to Paris to attend the Royal Institute for Blind Children

where he became the youngest pupil.

(5) At the school, most instruction was oral but Braille

found there were books for the blind—large, expensive-toproduce books in which the text was of large letters embossed

upon the page.

(6) Soon Braille had read all 14 books in the school, but

thirsted for more.

(7) A captain in Napoleon’s army, Charles Barbier de la

Serre, had invented ‘‘night writing’’, a method for communicating on the battlefield amidst the thick smoke of combat

or at night without lighting a match—which would aid enemy

gunners—that used dots and dashes that were felt and interpreted with the fingers, and later adapted the method for

use by the blind, calling it Sonography because it represented

words by sounds, rather than spelling.

31 USC 5112

note.

Louis Braille

Bicentennial—

Braille Literacy

Commemorative

Coin Act.

July 27, 2006

[H.R. 2872]

PUBLIC LAW 109–247—JULY 27, 2006 120 STAT. 583

(8) Braille adopted the Sonography method instantly but

soon recognized that the basis in sound and the large number

of dots—as many as 12—used to represent words was too

cumbersome.

(9) By the age of 15, and using a blunt awl, the same

sort of tool that had blinded him, Braille had developed what

is essentially modern Braille, a code that uses no more than

6 dots in a ‘‘cell’’ of 2 columns of 3 dots each to represent

each letter and contains a system of punctuation and of

‘‘contractions’’ to speed writing and reading.

(10) In contrast to the bulky books consisting of large

embossed letters, Braille books can contain as many as 1000

characters or contractions on a standard 11-by-12-inch page

of heavy paper, and to this day Braille can be punched with

an awl-like ‘‘stylus’’ into paper held in a metal ‘‘slate’’ that

is very similar to the ones that Louis Braille adapted from

Barbier’s original ‘‘night writing’’ devices.

(11) Also a talented organist who supported himself by

giving concerts, Braille went on to develop the Braille representation of music and in 1829 published the first-ever Braille

book, a manual about how to read and write music.

(12) 8 years later, in 1837, Braille followed that publication

with another book detailing a system of representation of

mathematics.

(13) Braille’s talents were quickly recognized, and at 17

he was made the first blind apprentice teacher at the school,

where he taught algebra, grammar, music, and geography.

(14) He and two blind classmates, his friends who probably

were the first people to learn to read and write Braille, later

became the first three blind full professors at the school.

(15) However, despite the fact that many blind people

enthusiastically adopted the system of writing and reading,

there was great skepticism among sighted people about the

real usefulness of Braille’s code, and even at the Royal Institute,

it was not taught until after his death on January 6, 1852.

(16) Braille did not start to spread widely until 1868 when

a group of British men—later to become known as the Royal

National Institute for the Blind—began publicizing and

teaching the system.

(17) Braille did not become the official and sole method

of reading and writing for blind United States citizens until

the 20th Century.

(18) Helen Keller, a Braille reader of another generation,

said: ‘‘Braille has been a most precious aid to me in many

ways. It made my going to college possible—it was the only

method by which I could take notes on lectures. All my examination papers were copied for me in this system. I use Braille

as a spider uses its web—to catch thoughts that flit across

my mind for speeches, messages and manuscripts.’’.

(19) While rapid technological advances in the 20th Century

have greatly aided the blind in many ways by speeding access

to information, each advance has seen a commensurate drop

in the teaching of Braille, to the point that only about 10

percent of blind students today are taught the system.

(20) However, for the blind not to know Braille is in itself

a handicap, because literacy is the ability to read and the

ability to write and the ability to do the two interactively.

120 STAT. 584 PUBLIC LAW 109–247—JULY 27, 2006

(21) The National Federation of the Blind, the Nation’s

oldest membership organization consisting of blind members,

has been a champion of the Braille code, of Braille literacy

for all blind people and of the memory of Louis Braille, and

continues its Braille literacy efforts today through its divisions

emphasizing Braille literacy, emphasizing education of blind

children and emphasizing employment of the blind.

(22) Braille literacy aids the blind in taking responsible

and self-sufficient roles in society, such as employment: while

70 percent of the blind are unemployed, 85 percent of the

employed blind are Braille-literate.

SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter

in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue

not more than 400,000 $1 coins bearing the designs specified in

section 4(a), each of which shall—

(1) weigh 26.73 grams;

(2) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and

(3) contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper.

(b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this Act shall

be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of title 31, United

States Code.

(c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 5134 of title

31, United States Code, all coins minted under this Act shall

be considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS.

(a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The design of the coins minted under

this Act shall be emblematic of the life and legacy of Louis

Braille.

(2) OBVERSE.—The design on the obverse shall bear a representation of the image of Louis Braille.

(3) REVERSE.—The design on the reverse shall emphasize

Braille literacy and shall specifically include the word for

Braille in Braille code (the Braille capital sign and the letters

Brl) represented in a way that substantially complies with

section 3 of Specification 800 of the National Library Service

for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of

Congress specifications for Braille, and is tactilely indiscernible

from printed or written Braille.

(4) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On each coin minted

under this Act there shall be—

(A) a designation of the value of the coin;

(B) an inscription of the year ‘‘2009’’; and

(C) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, ‘‘In God We

Trust’’, ‘‘United States of America’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus

Unum’’.

(b) SELECTION.—The design for the coins minted under this

Act shall be—

(1) selected by the Secretary after consultation with the

Commission of Fine Arts and the National Federation of the

Blind; and

(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

PUBLIC LAW 109–247—JULY 27, 2006 120 STAT. 585

SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS.

(a) QUALITY OF COINS.—Coins minted under this Act shall

be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.

(b) MINT FACILITY.—Only 1 facility of the United States Mint

may be used to strike any particular quality of the coins minted

under this Act.

(c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary may issue coins

minted under this Act only during the 1-year period beginning

on January 1, 2009.

SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS.

(a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act shall be

sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum of—

(1) the face value of the coins;

(2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with respect

to such coins; and

(3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins (including

labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses,

marketing, and shipping).

(b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk sales of the

coins issued under this Act at a reasonable discount.

(c) PREPAID ORDERS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept prepaid orders

for the coins minted under this Act before the issuance of

such coins.

(2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to prepaid orders

under paragraph (1) shall be at a reasonable discount.

SEC. 7. SURCHARGES.

(a) SURCHARGE REQUIRED.—All sales of coins under this Act

shall include a surcharge of $10 per coin.

(b) DISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United

States Code, all surcharges which are received by the Secretary

from the sale of coins issued under this Act shall be promptly

paid by the Secretary to the National Federation of the Blind

to further its programs to promote Braille literacy.

(c) AUDITS.—The National Federation of the Blind shall be

subject to the audit requirements of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31,

United States Code, with regard to the amounts received by the

National Federation under subsection (b).

(d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge

may be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of

any coin during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance,

the issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemorative coin programs issued during such year to exceed the annual

2 commemorative coin program issuance limitation under section

5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in effect on the

120 STAT. 586 PUBLIC LAW 109–247—JULY 27, 2006

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 2872 (S. 2321):

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 152 (2006):

Feb. 28, considered and passed House.

July 12, considered and passed Senate.

Æ

date of the enactment of this Act). The Secretary of the Treasury

may issue guidance to carry out this subsection.

Approved July 27, 2006.