105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1228

AN ACT

To provide for a 10-year circulating commemorative coin

program to commemorate each of the 50 States, and

for other purposes.

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 ‘‘50 States Commemo5 rative Coin Program Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds that—

3 (1) it is appropriate and timely—

4 (A) to honor the unique Federal republic

5 of 50 States that comprise the United States;

6 and

7 (B) to promote the diffusion of knowledge

8 among the youth of the United States about the

9 individual States, their history and geography,

10 and the rich diversity of the national heritage;

11 (2) the circulating coinage of the United States

12 has not been modernized during the 25-year period

13 preceding the date of enactment of this Act;

14 (3) a circulating commemorative 25-cent coin

15 program could produce earnings of $110,000,000

16 from the sale of silver proof coins and sets over the

17 10-year period of issuance, and would produce indi18 rect earnings of an estimated $2,600,000,000 to

19 $5,100,000,000 to the United States Treasury,

20 money that will replace borrowing to fund the na21 tional debt to at least that extent; and

22 (4) it is appropriate to launch a commemorative

23 circulating coin program that encourages young peo24 ple and their families to collect memorable tokens of

25 all of the States for the face value of the coins.
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1 SEC. 3. ISSUANCE OF REDESIGNED QUARTER DOLLARS

2 OVER 10-YEAR PERIOD COMMEMORATING

3 EACH OF THE 50 STATES.

4 Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is

5 amended by inserting after subsection (k) the following

6 new subsection:

7 ‘‘(l) REDESIGN AND ISSUANCE OF QUARTER DOLLAR

8 IN COMMEMORATION OF EACH OF THE 50 STATES.—

9 ‘‘(1) REDESIGN BEGINNING IN 1999.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the

11 fourth sentence of subsection (d)(1) and sub12 section (d)(2), quarter dollar coins issued dur13 ing the 10-year period beginning in 1999, shall

14 have designs on the reverse side selected in ac15 cordance with this subsection which are em16 blematic of the 50 States.

17 ‘‘(B) TRANSITION PROVISION.—Notwith18 standing subparagraph (A), the Secretary may

19 continue to mint and issue quarter dollars in

20 1999 which bear the design in effect before the

21 redesign required under this subsection and an

22 inscription of the year ‘1998’ as required to en23 sure a smooth transition into the 10-year pro24 gram under this subsection.

25 ‘‘(2) SINGLE STATE DESIGNS.—The design on

26 the reverse side of each quarter dollar issued during
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1 the 10-year period referred to in paragraph (1) shall

2 be emblematic of 1 of the 50 States.

3 ‘‘(3) ISSUANCE OF COINS COMMEMORATING 5

4 STATES DURING EACH OF THE 10 YEARS.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The designs for the

6 quarter dollar coins issued during each year of

7 the 10-year period referred to in paragraph (1)

8 shall be emblematic of 5 States selected in the

9 order in which such States ratified the Con10 stitution of the United States or were admitted

11 into the Union, as the case may be.

12 ‘‘(B) NUMBER OF EACH OF 5 COIN DE13 SIGNS IN EACH YEAR.—Of the quarter dollar

14 coins issued during each year of the 10-year pe15 riod referred to in paragraph (1), the Secretary

16 of the Treasury shall prescribe, on the basis of

17 such factors as the Secretary determines to be

18 appropriate, the number of quarter dollars

19 which shall be issued with each of the 5 designs

20 selected for such year.

21 ‘‘(4) SELECTION OF DESIGN.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each of the 50 de23 signs required under this subsection for quarter

24 dollars shall be—
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1 ‘‘(i) selected by the Secretary after

2 consultation with—

3 ‘‘(I) the Governor of the State

4 being commemorated, or such other

5 State officials or group as the State

6 may designate for such purpose; and

7 ‘‘(II) the Commission of Fine

8 Arts; and

9 ‘‘(ii) reviewed by the Citizens Com10 memorative Coin Advisory Committee.

11 ‘‘(B) SELECTION AND APPROVAL PROC12 ESS.—Designs for quarter dollars may be sub13 mitted in accordance with the design selection

14 and approval process developed by the Sec15 retary in the sole discretion of the Secretary.

16 ‘‘(C) PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary may

17 include participation by State officials, artists

18 from the States, engravers of the United States

19 Mint, and members of the general public.

20 ‘‘(D) STANDARDS.—Because it is impor21 tant that the Nation’s coinage and currency

22 bear dignified designs of which the citizens of

23 the United States can be proud, the Secretary

24 shall not select any frivolous or inappropriate
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1 design for any quarter dollar minted under this

2 subsection.

3 ‘‘(E) PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN REP4 RESENTATIONS.—No head and shoulders por5 trait or bust of any person, living or dead, and

6 no portrait of a living person may be included

7 in the design of any quarter dollar under this

8 subsection.

9 ‘‘(5) TREATMENT AS NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For

10 purposes of sections 5134 and 5136, all coins mint11 ed under this subsection shall be considered to be

12 numismatic items.

13 ‘‘(6) ISSUANCE.—

14 ‘‘(A) QUALITY OF COINS.—The Secretary

15 may mint and issue such number of quarter

16 dollars of each design selected under paragraph

17 (4) in uncirculated and proof qualities as the

18 Secretary determines to be appropriate.

19 ‘‘(B) SILVER COINS.—Notwithstanding

20 subsection (b), the Secretary may mint and

21 issue such number of quarter dollars of each

22 design selected under paragraph (4) as the Sec23 retary determines to be appropriate, with a con24 tent of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper.
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1 ‘‘(C) SOURCES OF BULLION.—The Sec2 retary shall obtain silver for minting coins

3 under subparagraph (B) from available re4 sources, including stockpiles established under

5 the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Pil6 ing Act.

7 ‘‘(7) APPLICATION IN EVENT OF THE ADMIS8 SION OF ADDITIONAL STATES.—If any additional

9 State is admitted into the Union before the end of

10 the 10-year period referred to in paragraph (1), the

11 Secretary of the Treasury may issue quarter dollar

12 coins, in accordance with this subsection, with a de13 sign which is emblematic of such State during any

14 1 year of such 10-year period, in addition to the

15 quarter dollar coins issued during such year in ac16 cordance with paragraph (3)(A).’’.

17 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES DOLLAR COINS.

18 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the

19 ‘‘United States $1 Coin Act of 1997’’.

20 (b) WEIGHT.—Section 5112(a)(1) of title 31, United

21 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘and weighs 8.1

22 grams’’.

23 (c) COLOR AND CONTENT.—Section 5112(b) of title

24 31, United States Code, is amended—
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1 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘dollar,’’;

2 and

3 (2) by inserting after the fourth sentence the

4 following: ‘‘The dollar coin shall be golden in color,

5 have a distinctive edge, have tactile and visual fea6 tures that make the denomination of the coin readily

7 discernible, be minted and fabricated in the United

8 States, and have similar metallic, anti-counterfeiting

9 properties as United States coinage in circulation on

10 the date of enactment of the United States $1 Coin

11 Act of 1997.’’.

12 (d) DESIGN.—Section 5112(d)(1) of title 31, United

13 States Code, is amended by striking the fifth and sixth

14 sentences and inserting the following: ‘‘The Secretary of

15 the Treasury, in consultation with the Congress, shall se16 lect appropriate designs for the obverse and reverse sides

17 of the dollar coin.’’.

18 (e) PRODUCTION OF NEW DOLLAR COINS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the depletion of the

20 Government’s supply (as of the date of enactment of

21 this Act) of $1 coins bearing the likeness of Susan

22 B. Anthony, the Secretary of the Treasury shall

23 place into circulation $1 coins that comply with the

24 requirements of subsections (b) and (d)(1) of section
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1 5112 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by

2 this section.

3 (2) AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY TO CONTINUE

4 PRODUCTION.—If the supply of $1 coins bearing the

5 likeness of Susan B. Anthony is depleted before pro6 duction has begun of $1 coins which bear a design

7 which complies with the requirements of subsections

8 (b) and (d)(1) of section 5112 of title 31, United

9 States Code, as amended by this section, the Sec10 retary of the Treasury may continue to mint and

11 issue $1 coins bearing the likeness of Susan B. An12 thony in accordance with that section 5112 (as in ef13 fect on the day before the date of enactment of this

14 Act) until such time as production begins.

15 (3) NUMISMATIC SETS.—The Secretary may in16 clude such $1 coins in any numismatic set produced

17 by the United States Mint before the date on which

18 the $1 coins authorized by this section are placed in

19 circulation.

20 (f) MARKETING PROGRAM.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before placing into circula22 tion $1 coins authorized under this section, the Sec23 retary of the Treasury shall adopt a program to pro24 mote the use of such coins by commercial enter-
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1 prises, mass transit authorities, and Federal, State,

2 and local government agencies.

3 (2) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Secretary of the

4 Treasury shall conduct a study on the progress of

5 the marketing program adopted in accordance with

6 paragraph (1).

7 (3) REPORT.—Not later than March 31, 2001,

8 the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report

9 to the Congress on the results of the study con10 ducted pursuant to paragraph (2).

11 SEC. 5. FIRST FLIGHT COMMEMORATIVE COINS.

12 (a) COIN SPECIFICATIONS.—

13 (1) DENOMINATIONS.—The Secretary of the

14 Treasury (hereafter in this section referred to as the

15 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue the following

16 coins:

17 (A) $10 GOLD COINS.—Not more than

18 100,000 $10 coins, each of which shall—

19 (i) weigh 16.718 grams;

20 (ii) have a diameter of 1.06 inches;

21 and

22 (iii) contain 90 percent gold and 10

23 percent alloy.

24 (B) $1 SILVER COINS.—Not more than

25 500,000 $1 coins, each of which shall—
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1 (i) weigh 26.73 grams;

2 (ii) have a diameter of 1.500 inches;

3 and

4 (iii) contain 90 percent silver and 10

5 percent copper.

6 (C) HALF DOLLAR CLAD COINS.—Not

7 more than 750,000 half dollar coins each of

8 which shall—

9 (i) weigh 11.34 grams;

10 (ii) have a diameter of 1.205 inches;

11 and

12 (iii) be minted to the specifications for

13 half dollar coins contained in section

14 5112(b) of title 31, United States Code.

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

16 section shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103

17 of title 31, United States Code.

18 (c) SOURCES OF BULLION.—The Secretary shall ob19 tain gold and silver for minting coins under this section

20 pursuant to the authority of the Secretary under other

21 provisions of law, including authority relating to the use

22 of silver stockpiles established under the Strategic and

23 Critical Materials Stockpiling Act, as applicable.

24 (d) DESIGN OF COINS.—

25 (1) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The design of the coins

2 minted under this section shall be emblematic

3 of the first flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright

4 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December

5 17, 1903.

6 (B) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—

7 On each coin minted under this section there

8 shall be—

9 (i) a designation of the value of the

10 coin;

11 (ii) an inscription of the year ‘‘2003’’;

12 and

13 (iii) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Lib14 erty’’, ‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States

15 of America’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’.

16 (2) SELECTION.—The design for the coins

17 minted under this section shall be—

18 (A) selected by the Secretary after con19 sultation with the Board of Directors of the

20 First Flight Foundation and the Commission of

21 Fine Arts; and

22 (B) reviewed by the Citizens Commemora23 tive Coin Advisory Committee.

24 (e) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE OF COINS.—The Sec25 retary may issue coins minted under this section only dur-
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1 ing the period beginning on August 1, 2003, and ending

2 on July 31, 2004.

3 (f) SALE OF COINS.—

4 (1) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this

5 section shall be sold by the Secretary at a price

6 equal to the sum of—

7 (A) the face value of the coins;

8 (B) the surcharge provided in paragraph

9 (4) with respect to such coins; and

10 (C) the cost of designing and issuing the

11 coins (including labor, materials, dies, use of

12 machinery, overhead expenses, marketing, and

13 shipping).

14 (2) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make

15 bulk sales of the coins issued under this section at

16 a reasonable discount.

17 (3) PREPAID ORDERS.—

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ac19 cept prepaid orders for the coins minted under

20 this section before the issuance of such coins.

21 (B) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect

22 to prepaid orders under subparagraph (A) shall

23 be at a reasonable discount.

24 (4) SURCHARGES.—All sales shall include a

25 surcharge of—
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1 (A) $35 per coin for the $10 coin;

2 (B) $10 per coin for the $1 coin; and

3 (C) $1 per coin for the half dollar

4 coin.

5 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

6 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this

7 Act shall be construed to evidence any intention to elimi8 nate or to limit the printing or circulation of United States

9 currency in the $1 denomination.

10 (g) GENERAL WAIVER OF PROCUREMENT REGULA11 TIONS.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para13 graph (2), no provision of law governing procure14 ment or public contracts shall be applicable to the

15 procurement of goods and services necessary for car16 rying out the provisions of this Act.

17 (2) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY.—

18 Paragraph (1) does not relieve any person entering

19 into a contract under the authority of this section

20 from complying with any law relating to equal em21 ployment opportunity.

22 (h) TREATMENT AS NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For pur23 poses of sections 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States

24 Code, all coins minted under this subsection shall be con25 sidered to be numismatic items.
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1 (i) DISTRIBUTION OF SURCHARGES.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to section 5134 of

3 title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received

4 by the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under

5 this section shall be promptly paid by the Secretary

6 to the First Flight Foundation for the purposes of—

7 (A) repairing, refurbishing, and maintain8 ing the Wright Brothers Monument on the

9 Outer Banks of North Carolina; and

10 (B) expanding (or, if necessary, replacing)

11 and maintaining the visitor center and other fa12 cilities at the Wright Brothers National Memo13 rial Park on the Outer Banks of North Caro14 lina, including providing educational programs

15 and exhibits for visitors.

16 (2) AUDITS.—The Comptroller General of the

17 United States shall have the right to examine such

18 books, records, documents, and other data of the

19 First Flight Foundation as may be related to the ex20 penditures of amounts paid under paragraph (1).

21 (j) FINANCIAL ASSURANCES.—The Secretary shall

22 take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that mint-
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1 ing and issuing coins under this section will not result in

2 any net cost to the United States Government.

Passed the Senate November 9, 1997.

Attest:

Secretary.
105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1228

AN ACT

To provide for a 10-year circulating commemorative

States, and for other purposes.coin program to commemorate each of the 50
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