104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2026

AN ACT

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint

of the death of George Washington.coins in commemoration of the 200th anniversary
104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2026

AN ACT

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins

in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the death

of George Washington.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘George Washington

3 Commemorative Coin Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.

5 (a) $5 GOLD COINS.—The Secretary of the Treasury

6 (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall

7 mint and issue not more than 100,000 5 dollar coins,

8 which shall—

9 (1) weigh 8.359 grams;

10 (2) have a diameter of 0.850 inches; and

11 (3) contain 90 percent gold and 10 percent

12 alloy.

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

14 Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of

15 title 31, United States Code.

16 (c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section

17 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins minted

18 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.

19 SEC. 3. SOURCES OF BULLION.

20 The Secretary shall obtain gold for minting coins

21 under this Act pursuant to the authority of the Secretary

22 under other provisions of law.

23 SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS.

24 (a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The design of the coins

2 minted under this Act shall be emblematic of George

3 Washington.

4 (2) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On

5 each coin minted under this Act there shall be—

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

7 (B) an inscription of the year ‘‘1999’’; and

8 (C) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’,

9 ‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer10 ica’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’.

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

12 under this Act shall be—

13 (1) selected by the Secretary after consultation

14 with the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association and the

15 Commission of Fine Arts; and

16 (2) reviewed by the Citizens Commemorative

17 Coin Advisory Committee.

18 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS.

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

20 Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.

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

22 States Mint may be used to strike any particular quality

23 of the coins minted under this Act.
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1 (c) COMMENCEMENT OF ISSUANCE.—The Secretary

2 shall issue coins minted under this Act beginning May 1,

3 1999.

4 (d) TERMINATION OF MINTING AUTHORITY.—No

5 coins may be minted under this Act after November 31,

6 1999.

7 SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS.

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

9 shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum

10 of—

11 (1) the face value of the coins;

12 (2) the surcharge provided in subsection (d)

13 with respect to such coins; and

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

15 (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery,

16 overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping).

17 (b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk

18 sales of the coins issued under this Act at a reasonable

19 discount.

20 (c) PREPAID ORDERS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept

22 prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act

23 before the issuance of such coins.
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1 (2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre2 paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea3 sonable discount.

4 (d) SURCHARGES.—All sales shall include a sur5 charge of $35 per coin.

6 SEC. 7. GENERAL WAIVER OF PROCUREMENT REGULA7 TIONS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

9 (b), no provision of law governing procurement or public

10 contracts shall be applicable to the procurement of goods

11 and services necessary for carrying out the provisions of

12 this Act.

13 (b) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY.—Sub14 section (a) shall not relieve any person entering into a con15 tract under the authority of this Act from complying with

16 any law relating to equal employment opportunity.

17 SEC. 8. DISTRIBUTION OF SURCHARGES.

18 Subject to section 10(a), all surcharges received by

19 the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this Act

20 shall be promptly paid by the Secretary to the Mount Ver21 non Ladies’ Association (hereafter in this Act referred to

22 as the ‘‘Association’’) and shall be used—

23 (1) to supplement the Association’s endowment

24 for the purpose of providing a permanent source of
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1 support for the preservation of George Washington’s

2 home; and

3 (2) to provide financial support for the continu4 ation and expansion of the Association’s efforts to

5 educate the American public about George Washing6 ton.

7 SEC. 9. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES.

8 (a) NO NET COST TO THE GOVERNMENT.—The Sec9 retary shall take such actions as may be necessary to en10 sure that minting and issuing coins under this Act will

11 not result in any net cost to the United States Govern12 ment.

13 (b) PAYMENT FOR COINS.—A coin shall not be issued

14 under this Act unless the Secretary has received—

15 (1) full payment for the coin;

16 (2) security satisfactory to the Secretary to in17 demnify the United States for full payment; or

18 (3) a guarantee of full payment satisfactory to

19 the Secretary from a depository institution whose

20 deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insur21 ance Corporation or the National Credit Union Ad22 ministration Board.

23 SEC. 10. CONDITIONS ON PAYMENT OF SURCHARGES.

24 (a) PAYMENT OF SURCHARGES.—Notwithstanding

25 any other provision of law, no amount derived from the
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1 proceeds of any surcharge imposed on the sale of coins

2 issued under this Act shall be paid to the Association un3 less—

4 (1) all numismatic operation and program costs

5 allocable to the program under which such coins are

6 produced and sold have been recovered; and

7 (2) the Association submits an audited financial

8 statement which demonstrates to the satisfaction of

9 the Secretary of the Treasury that, with respect to

10 all projects or purposes for which the proceeds of

11 such surcharge may be used, the Association has

12 raised funds from private sources for such projects

13 and purposes in an amount which is equal to or

14 greater than the maximum amount the Association

15 may receive from the proceeds of such surcharge.

16 (b) ANNUAL AUDITS.—

17 (1) ANNUAL AUDITS OF RECIPIENTS RE18 QUIRED.—The Association shall provide, as a condi19 tion for receiving any amount derived from the pro20 ceeds of any surcharge imposed on the sale of coins

21 issued under this Act, for an annual audit, in ac22 cordance with generally accepted government audit23 ing standards by an independent public accountant

24 selected by the Association, of all such payments to

25 the Association beginning in the first fiscal year of
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1 the Association in which any such amount is re2 ceived and continuing until all such amounts re3 ceived by the Association with respect to such sur4 charges are fully expended or placed in trust.

5 (2) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR ANNUAL AU6 DITS.—At a minimum, each audit of the Association

7 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall report—

8 (A) the amount of payments received by

9 the Association during the fiscal year of the As10 sociation for which the audit is conducted which

11 are derived from the proceeds of any surcharge

12 imposed on the sale of coins issued under this

13 Act;

14 (B) the amount expended by the Associa15 tion from the proceeds of such surcharges dur16 ing the fiscal year of the Association for which

17 the audit is conducted; and

18 (C) whether all expenditures by the Asso19 ciation from the proceeds of such surcharges

20 during the fiscal year of the Association for

21 which the audit is conducted were for author22 ized purposes.

23 (3) RESPONSIBILITY OF ASSOCIATION TO AC24 COUNT FOR EXPENDITURES OF SURCHARGES.—The

25 Association shall take appropriate steps, as a condi-
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1 tion for receiving any payment of any amount de2 rived from the proceeds of any surcharge imposed on

3 the sale of coins issued under this Act, to ensure

4 that the receipt of the payment and the expenditure

5 of the proceeds of such surcharge by the Association

6 in each fiscal year of the Association can be ac7 counted for separately from all other revenues and

8 expenditures of the Association.

9 (4) SUBMISSION OF AUDIT REPORT.—Not later

10 than 90 days after the end of any fiscal year of the

11 Association for which an audit is required under

12 paragraph (1), the Association shall—

13 (A) submit a copy of the report to the Sec14 retary of the Treasury; and

15 (B) make a copy of the report available to

16 the public.

17 (5) USE OF SURCHARGES FOR AUDITS.—The

18 Association may use any amount received from pay19 ments derived from the proceeds of any surcharge

20 imposed on the sale of coins issued under this Act

21 to pay the cost of an audit required under para22 graph (1).

23 (6) WAIVER OF SUBSECTION.—The Secretary

24 of the Treasury may waive the application of any

25 paragraph of this subsection to the Association for
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1 any fiscal year after taking into account the amount

2 of surcharges which the Association received or ex3 pended during such year.

4 (7) AVAILABILITY OF BOOKS AND RECORDS.—

5 The Association shall provide, as a condition for re6 ceiving any payment derived from the proceeds of

7 any surcharge imposed on the sale of coins issued

8 under this Act, to the Inspector General of the De9 partment of the Treasury or the Comptroller Gen10 eral of the United States, upon the request of such

11 Inspector General or the Comptroller General, all

12 books, records, and workpapers belonging to or used

13 by the Association, or by any independent public ac14 countant who audited the Association in accordance

15 with paragraph (1), which may relate to the receipt

16 or expenditure of any such amount by the Associa17 tion.

18 (c) USE OF AGENTS OR ATTORNEYS TO INFLUENCE

19 COMMEMORATIVE COIN LEGISLATION.—No portion of any

20 payment to the Association from amounts derived from

21 the proceeds of surcharges imposed on the sale of coins

22 issued under this Act may be used, directly or indirectly,

23 by the Association to compensate any agent or attorney

24 for services rendered to support or influence in any way
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1 legislative action of the Congress relating to the coins

2 minted and issued under this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives September 17,

1996.

Attest:

Clerk.