II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 817

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

of Native American history and culture.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 18 (legislative day, MAY 15), 1995

Mr. CAMPBELL (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. HATCH, Mr. MACK, Mr.

DEWINE, and Mr. MCCAIN) 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 commemoration of Native American history and culture.

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 ‘‘United States Buffalo

5 Nickel Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.

7 (a) DENOMINATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other

8 provision of law, during the 3-year period beginning on

9 January 1, 1998, the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter
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1 in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and

2 issue each year not more than 1,000,000 5-cent coins,

3 which shall—

4 (1) weigh 5 grams;

5 (2) have a diameter of 0.835 inches; and

6 (3) contain an alloy of 90 percent silver and 10

7 percent copper.

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

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

10 title 31, United States Code.

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

12 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all coins minted

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

14 SEC. 3. SOURCES OF BULLION.

15 The Secretary shall obtain silver for minting coins

16 under this Act only from stockpiles established under the

17 Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act.

18 SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS.

19 (a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—

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

21 minted under this Act shall be a reproduction of the

22 original 5-cent coin designed by James Earle Fraser

23 and minted from 1913 to 1938, depicting on the ob24 verse side a profile of a Native American, and on the

25 reverse side a buffalo.
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1 (2) DESIGNATIONS AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On

2 each coin minted under this Act there shall be—

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

4 (B) an inscription of the year; and

5 (C) inscriptions of the words ‘‘United

6 States of America’’, ‘‘Liberty’’, and ‘‘E

7 Pluribus Unum’’.

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

9 under this Act shall be—

10 (1) selected by the Secretary after consultation

11 with the Committee on Banking, Housing, and

12 Urban Affairs and the Committee on Indian Affairs

13 of the United States Senate, and the Commission of

14 Fine Arts; and

15 (2) reviewed by the Citizens Commemorative

16 Coin Advisory Committee.

17 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS.

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

19 Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.

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

21 States Mint may be used to strike any particular combina22 tion of denomination and quality of the coins minted under

23 this Act.
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1 (c) COMMENCEMENT OF ISSUANCE.—The Secretary

2 may issue coins minted under this Act beginning January

3 1, 1998.

4 (d) TERMINATION OF MINTING AUTHORITY.—No

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

6 2000.

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 $1.00 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 (a) PARK MAINTENANCE AND UPKEEP FUND.—

19 There shall be established among the depository accounts

20 of the National Park Foundation (hereafter in this Act

21 referred to as ‘‘the Foundation’’), a charitable and non22 profit corporation established under the Act of December

23 18, 1967 (81 Stat. 656; 16 U.S.C. 19en), an account to

24 be known as the ‘‘Park Maintenance and Upkeep Fund’’

25 (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘‘the Fund’’). Monies
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1 deposited in the Fund shall be expended solely and exclu2 sively on the maintenance, repair, and general upkeep of

3 facilities including, but not limited to, buildings, trails and

4 utilities, within units of the National Park System. Under

5 no circumstances will monies from the Fund be used for

6 the construction of new facilities.

7 (b) DEPOSITS.—Surcharges received by the Secretary

8 from the sale of coins issued under this Act shall be paid

9 promptly by the Secretary to the Foundation for deposit

10 in the Fund. Surcharges shall at no time be considered

11 revenues to the Treasury of the United States and shall

12 not be considered a basis for offset of appropriations

13 which would otherwise be made to the National Park

14 Service.

15 (c) ALLOCATIONS.—The Foundation shall allocate

16 monies from the Fund to units of the National Park Sys17 tem for the purposes enumerated in subsection (a). Alloca18 tions shall be made in accordance with criteria developed

19 by the Foundation, to meet priority needs identified by

20 the National Park Service.

21 (d) AUDITS.—The Comptroller General of the United

22 States shall have the right to examine such books, records,

23 documents, and other data of the Fund as may be related

24 to the expenditures of amounts paid under subsection (b).
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1 SEC. 9. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES.

2 (a) NO NET COST TO THE GOVERNMENT.—The Sec3 retary shall take such actions as may be necessary to en4 sure that minting and issuing coins under this Act will

5 not result in any net cost to the United States Govern6 ment.

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

8 under this Act unless the Secretary has received—

9 (1) full payment for the coin;

10 (2) security satisfactory to the Secretary to in11 demnify the United States for full payment; or

12 (3) a guarantee of full payment satisfactory to

13 the Secretary from a depository institution whose

14 deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insur15 ance Corporation or the National Credit Union Ad16 ministration Board.

Æ