I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1184

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

of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 22, 2001

Mr. LEACH (for himself, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. WATTS

of Oklahoma, Mr. LAFALCE, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. FILNER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr.

CONDIT, Mr. FROST, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. SMITH of New

Jersey, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. PORTMAN,

Mr. KUCINICH, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr.

CONYERS, Mr. BUYER, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. CLAY, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs.

JONES of Ohio, Mr. DOOLEY of California, and Mr. BARRETT) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

A BILL

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins

in commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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 ‘‘Dr. Martin Luther

5 King, Jr., Commemorative Coin Act’’.
2

•HR 1184 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress hereby finds as follows:

3 (1) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dedicated his

4 life to securing the Nation’s fundamental principles

5 of liberty and justice for all its citizens.

6 (2) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the lead7 ing civil rights advocate of his time, spearheading

8 the civil rights movement in the United States dur9 ing the 1950’s and 1960’s.

10 (3) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the key11 note speaker at the August, 28, 1963, March on

12 Washington, the largest rally of the civil rights

13 movement, during which, from the steps of the Lin14 coln Memorial and before a crowd of over 200,000

15 people, he delivered his famous ‘‘I Have A Dream’’

16 speech, one of the classic orations in American his17 tory.

18 (4) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a cham19 pion of nonviolence, fervently advocated nonviolent

20 resistance as the strategy to end segregation and ra21 cial discrimination in America, and was awarded the

22 1964 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his ef23 forts.

24 (5) All Americans should commemorate the leg25 acy of Martin Luther King, Jr., so ‘‘that one day

26 this Nation will rise up and live out the true mean-
3

•HR 1184 IH

1 ing of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evi2 dent; that all men are created equal.’ ’’.

3 (6) Efforts are underway to secure the personal

4 papers of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for the Li5 brary of Congress so that they may be preserved and

6 studied for generations to come.

7 SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.

8 (a) DENOMINATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treas9 ury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’)

10 shall mint and issue the following coins:

11 (1) $5 GOLDCOINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5

12 coins, which shall—

13 (A) weigh 8.359 grams;

14 (B) have a diameter of 0.850 inches; and

15 (C) contain 90 percent gold and 10 percent

16 alloy.

17 (2) $1 SILVER COINS.—Not more than 350,000

18 $1 coins, which shall—

19 (A) weigh 26.73 grams;

20 (B) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and

21 (C) contain 90 percent silver and 10 per22 cent copper.

23 (3) HALF DOLLAR CLAD COINS.—Not more

24 than 5,000,000 half dollar coins which shall—

25 (A) weigh 11.34 grams;
4

•HR 1184 IH

1 (B) have a diameter of 1.205 inches; and

2 (C) be minted to the specifications for half

3 dollar coins contained in section 5112(b) of title

4 31, United States Code.

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

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

7 title 31, United States Code.

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

9 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins

10 minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis11 matic items.

12 SEC. 4. SOURCES OF BULLION.

13 (a) GOLD.—The Secretary shall obtain gold for mint14 ing coins under this Act pursuant to the authority of the

15 Secretary under other provisions of law.

16 (b) SILVER.—The Secretary shall obtain silver for

17 minting coins under this Act from any available source,

18 including from stockpiles established under the Strategic

19 and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act.

20 SEC. 5. DESIGN OF COINS.

21 (a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—

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

23 minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the in24 spirational life and works of Dr. Martin Luther

25 King, Jr.
5

•HR 1184 IH

1 (2) DESIGNATION ANDINSCRIPTIONS.—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 ‘‘2003’’; and

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

6 ‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer7 ica’’, and ‘‘E 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 Commission of Fine Arts; and

12 (2) reviewed by the Citizens Commemorative

13 Coin Advisory Committee.

14 SEC. 6. ISSUANCE OF COINS.

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

16 Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.

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

18 States Mint may be used to strike any particular quality

19 of the coins minted under this Act.

20 (c) COMMENCEMENT OF ISSUANCE.—The Secretary

21 may issue coins minted under this Act beginning August

22 28, 2003.

23 (d) TERMINATION OF MINTING AUTHORITY.—No

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

25 2003.
6

•HR 1184 IH

1 SEC. 7. SALE OF COINS.

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

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

4 of—

5 (1) the face value of the coins;

6 (2) the surcharge provided in section 8(a) with

7 respect to such coins; and

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

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

10 overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping).

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

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

13 discount.

14 (c) PREPAID ORDERS.—

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

16 prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act

17 before the issuance of such coins.

18 (2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre19 paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea20 sonable discount.

21 (d) MARKETING.—The Secretary, in cooperation with

22 the Legacy Fund of the Library of Congress, shall develop

23 and implement a marketing program to promote and sell

24 the coins issued under this Act both within the United

25 States and internationally.
7

•HR 1184 IH

1 SEC. 8. SURCHARGES.

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

3 this Act shall include a surcharge as follows:

4 (1) A surcharge of $35 per coin for the $5 coin.

5 (2) A surcharge of $10 per coin for the $1 coin.

6 (3) A surcharge of $3 per coin for the half dol7 lar coin.

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

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

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

11 shall be promptly paid by the Secretary to the Dr. Martin

12 Luther King, Jr., Legacy Fund of the Library of Congress

13 to be used for the objects and purposes of such Fund.

14 (c) AUDITS.—The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Leg15 acy Fund shall be subject to the audit requirements of

16 section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with

17 regard to the amounts received by the Fund under sub18 section (b).

Æ