I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6162 

To provide research and development authority for alternative coinage materials to the Secretary of the Treasury, increase congressional oversight 

over coin production, and ensure the continuity of certain numismatic 

items. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 

Mr. WATT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide research and development authority for alternative coinage materials to the Secretary of the Treasury, increase congressional oversight over coin production, and ensure the continuity of certain numismatic 

items. 

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 ‘‘Coin Modernization, 

5 Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVEL2 OPMENT ON ALL CIRCULATING COINS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—To accomplish the goals of this 

4 Act and the requirements of subchapter II of chapter 51 

5 of title 31, United States Code, the Secretary of the Treas6 ury may— 

7 (1) conduct any appropriate testing of appro8 priate coinage metallic materials within or outside of 

9 the Department of the Treasury; and 

10 (2) solicit input from or otherwise work in con11 junction with entities within or outside of the Fed12 eral Government including independent research fa13 cilities or current or potential suppliers of the metal14 lic material used in volume production of circulating 

15 coins, 

16 to complete the report referred to in this Act and to de17 velop, evaluate or begin the use of new metallic materials 

18 for such production. 

19 (b) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED.—In the conduct 

20 of research, development, and the solicitation of input or 

21 work in conjunction with entities within and outside the 

22 Federal Government, and in reporting to the Congress 

23 with recommendations, as required by this Act, the Sec24 retary of the Treasury shall consider the following: 

25 (1) Factors relevant to the potential impact of 

26 any revisions to the composition of the material used 


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1 in coin production on the current coinage material 

2 suppliers. 

3 (2) Factors relevant to the ease of use and abil4 ity to co-circulate of new coinage materials, includ5 ing the effect on vending machines and commercial 

6 coin processing equipment and making certain, to 

7 the greatest extent practicable, that any new coins 

8 work without interruption in existing coin accept9 ance equipment without modification. 

10 (3) Such other factors that the Secretary of the 

11 Treasury, in consultation with merchants who would 

12 be affected by any change in the composition of cir13 culating coins, vending machine and other coin ac14 ceptor manufacturers, vending machine owners and 

15 operators, transit officials, municipal parking offi16 cials, depository institutions, coin and currency han17 dlers, armored-car operators, car wash operators, 

18 and American-owned manufacturers of commercial 

19 coin processing equipment, considers to be appro20 priate and in the public interest, after notice and op21 portunity for comment. 


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1 SEC. 3. BIENNIAL REPORT TO THE CONGRESS ON THE CUR2 RENT STATUS OF COIN PRODUCTION COSTS 

3 AND ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE CONTENT. 

4 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 2- 

5 year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act, and at 2-year intervals following the end of such pe7 riod, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report 

8 to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 

9 Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

10 and Urban Affairs of the Senate analyzing production 

11 costs for each circulating coin, cost trends for such pro12 duction, and possible new metallic materials or tech13 nologies for the production of circulating coins. 

14 (b) DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS.—In preparing 

15 and submitting the reports required under subsection (a), 

16 the Secretary of the Treasury shall include detailed rec17 ommendations for any appropriate changes to the metallic 

18 content of circulating coins in such a form that the rec19 ommendations could be enacted into law as appropriate. 

20 (c) IMPROVED PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY.—In pre21 paring and submitting the reports required under sub22 section (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall include 

23 recommendations for changes in the methods of producing 

24 coins that would further reduce the costs to produce circu25 lating coins, and include notes on the legislative changes 

26 that are necessary to achieve such goals. 


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1 (d) MINIMIZING CONVERSION COSTS.—In preparing 

2 and submitting the reports required under subsection (a), 

3 the Secretary of the Treasury, to the greatest extent pos4 sible, may not include any recommendation for new speci5 fications for producing a circulating coin that would re6 quire any significant change to coin-accepting and coin7 handling equipment to accommodate changes to all circu8 lating coins simultaneously. 

9 (e) FRAUD PREVENTION.—The reports required 

10 under this section shall make no recommendation for a 

11 specification change that would facilitate or allow the use 

12 of a coin with a lesser value produced, minted, or issued 

13 by another country, or the use of any token or other easily 

14 or regularly produced metal device of minimal value, in 

15 the place of a circulating coin produced by the Secretary. 

16 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision of this 

17 Act shall be construed as requiring that additional re18 search and development be conducted for any report under 

19 this Act but any such report shall include information on 

20 any such research and development during the period cov21 ered by the report. 


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1 SEC. 4. MEETING DEMAND FOR SILVER NUMISMATIC 

2 ITEMS. 

3 Section 5112(e) of title 31, United States Code is 

4 amended by striking ‘‘quantities’’ and inserting ‘‘qualities 

5 and quantities that the Secretary determines are’’. 

6 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS. 

7 Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘qualities 

10 and’’ before ‘‘quantities’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (i)(1), by inserting ‘‘qualities 

12 and’’ before ‘‘quantities’’; and 

13 (3) in subsection (u)(1)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘exact duplicates’’ and in15 serting ‘‘likenesses’’; 

16 (B) by striking subparagraph (C); 

17 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 

18 and (E) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respec19 tively; and 

20 (D) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘of 

21 3.0 inches’’ and inserting ‘‘determined by the 

22 Secretary that is no less than 2.5 inches and no 

23 greater than 3.0 inches’’. 

Æ 


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