II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1935 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in recognition and 

celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the March 

of Dimes Foundation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 1, 2011 

Mrs. HAGAN (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. KIRK, and Mr. 

AKAKA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins 

in recognition and celebration of the 75th anniversary 

of the establishment of the March of Dimes Foundation. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘March of Dimes Com5 memorative Coin Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal 

9 struggle with polio led him to create the National 


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1 Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as 

2 the March of Dimes) on January 3, 1938, at a time 

3 when polio was on the rise. 

4 (2) The Foundation established patient aid pro5 grams and funded research for polio vaccines devel6 oped by Jonas Salk, MD, and Albert Sabin, MD. 

7 (3) Tested in a massive field trial in 1954 that 

8 involved 1.8 million schoolchildren known as ‘‘polio 

9 pioneers’’, the Salk vaccine was licensed for use on 

10 April 12, 1955 as ‘‘safe, effective, and potent’’. The 

11 Salk and Sabin polio vaccines funded by the March 

12 of Dimes ended the polio epidemic in the United 

13 States. 

14 (4) With its original mission accomplished, the 

15 Foundation turned its focus to preventing birth de16 fects, prematurity, and infant mortality in 1958. 

17 The Foundation began to fund research into the ge18 netic, prenatal, and environmental causes of over 

19 3,000 birth defects. 

20 (5) The Foundation’s investment in research 

21 has led to 13 scientists winning the Nobel Prize 

22 since 1954, including Dr. James Watson’s discovery 

23 of the double helix. 

24 (6) Virginia Apgar, MD, creator of the Apgar 

25 Score, helped develop the Foundation’s mission for 


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1 birth defects prevention; joining the Foundation as 

2 the head of its new birth defects division in 1959. 

3 (7) In the 1960s, the Foundation created over 

4 100 birth defects treatment centers, and then turned 

5 its attention to assisting in the development of Neo6 natal Intensive Care Units, or NICUs. 

7 (8) With March of Dimes support, a Committee 

8 on Perinatal Health released Toward Improving the 

9 Outcome of Pregnancy in 1976, which included rec10 ommendations that led to the regionalization of 

11 perinatal health care in the United States. 

12 (9) Since 1998, the March of Dimes has advo13 cated for and witnessed the passage of the Birth De14 fects Prevention Act, Children’s Health Act, 

15 PREEMIE Act, and Newborn Screening Save Lives 

16 Act. 

17 (10) In 2003, the March of Dimes launched a 

18 Prematurity Campaign to increase awareness about 

19 and reduce the incidence of preterm birth, infant 

20 mortality, birth defects, and lifelong disabilities and 

21 disorders. 

22 (11) The March of Dimes actively promotes 

23 programs for and funds research into newborn 

24 screening, pulmonary surfactant therapy, maternal 

25 nutrition, smoking cessation, folic acid consumption 


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1 to prevent neural tube defects, increased access to 

2 maternity care, and similar programs to improve 

3 maternal and infant health. 

4 SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 

5 (a) $1 SILVER COINS.—In recognition and celebra6 tion of the founding and proud service of the March of 

7 Dimes, the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 

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

9 not more than 500,000 $1 coins, which shall— 

10 (1) weigh 26.73 grams; 

11 (2) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and 

12 (3) contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent 

13 copper. 

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

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

16 title 31, United States Code. 

17 (c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

18 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins 

19 minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis20 matic items. 

21 SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 

22 (a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

24 minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the 

25 mission and programs of the March of Dimes, and 


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1 its distinguished record of generating Americans’ 

2 support to protect our children’s health. 

3 (2) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On 

4 each coin minted under this Act, there shall be— 

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

6 (B) an inscription of the year ‘‘2014’’; and 

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

8 ‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer9 ica’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 

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

11 under this Act shall— 

12 (1) contain motifs that represent the past, 

13 present, and future of the March of Dimes and its 

14 role as champion for all babies, such designs to be 

15 consistent with the traditions and heritage of the 

16 March of Dimes; 

17 (2) be selected by the Secretary, after consulta18 tion with the March of Dimes and the Commission 

19 of Fine Arts; and 

20 (3) be reviewed by the Citizens Coin Advisory 

21 Committee. 

22 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE. 

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

24 Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 


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1 (b) MINT FACILITY.—For the coins minted under 

2 this Act, at least 1 facility of the United States Mint shall 

3 be used to strike proof quality coins, while at least 1 other 

4 such facility shall be used to strike the uncirculated qual5 ity coins. 

6 (c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary of the 

7 Treasury may issue coins minted under this Act only dur8 ing the 1-year period beginning on January 1, 2014. 

9 SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 

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

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

12 of— 

13 (1) the face value of the coins; 

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

15 respect to such coins; and 

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

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

18 overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping). 

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

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

21 discount. 

22 (c) PREPAID ORDERS.— 

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

24 prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act 

25 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 SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—All sales of coins minted under 

6 this Act shall include a surcharge of $10 per coin. 

7 (b) DISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of 

8 title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by 

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

10 shall be promptly paid by the Secretary to the March of 

11 Dimes to help finance research, education, and services 

12 aimed at improving the health of women, infants, and chil13 dren. 

14 (c) AUDITS.—The March of Dimes shall be subject 

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

16 United States Code, with regard to the amounts received 

17 under subsection (b). 

18 (d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 

19 no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance 

20 under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as 

21 of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin 

22 would result in the number of commemorative coin pro23 grams issued during such year to exceed the annual 2 

24 commemorative coin program issuance limitation under 


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1 section 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code. The 

2 Secretary may issue guidance to carry out this subsection. 

Æ 


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