I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2977 

To improve the circulation of $1 coins, to remove barrier to the circulation 

of such coins, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 

Mr. SCHWEIKERT (for himself, Mr. HENSARLING, and Mr. LUETKEMEYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To improve the circulation of $1 coins, to remove barrier 

to the circulation of such coins, 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 ‘‘Currency Optimiza5 tion, Innovation, and National Savings Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMPROVING CIRCULATION AND REMOVING BAR7 RIERS TO CIRCULATION OF $1 COINS. 

8 (a) DUTIES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE

9 FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM.— 

10 (1) COIN SEQUESTRATION.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Within six months of 

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Board of 

3 Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall 

4 sequester all $1 coins bearing the design com5 mon to those $1 coins minted and issued from 

6 1979–1981 and again in 1999. 

7 (B) TREATMENT OF COINS.—Coins seques8 tered pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall not 

9 be returned to ordinary circulation or otherwise 

10 released form storage controlled by the Federal 

11 Reserve System or an agent of the Federal Re12 serve System. 

13 (C) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN USES.—Not14 withstanding subparagraph (B), coins seques15 tered pursuant to subparagraph (A) may be re16 leased, at face value and in bulk quantities— 

17 (i) to dealers in collectible coins; and 

18 (ii) to countries that have adopted the 

19 United States dollar as their base unit of 

20 exchange. 

21 (D) OBSOLETE COINS.—At the end of the 

22 1-year period beginning on the date of the en23 actment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treas24 ury shall declare all coins described under sub25 paragraph (A) to be obsolete, and such coins— 


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1 (i) shall be treated in the same man2 ner as all other obsolete United States 

3 coins; and 

4 (ii) to the extent such coins remain in 

5 general circulation, shall remain legal ten6 der. 

7 (2) QUARTERLY REPORT ON $1 COINS.—The 

8 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

9 shall issue quarterly reports to the Committee on Fi10 nancial Services of the House of Representatives and 

11 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af12 fairs of the Senate on— 

13 (A) the number of coins sequestered pursu14 ant to paragraph (1)(A); 

15 (B) the number of coins described in para16 graph (1)(A) that remain in general circulation; 

17 and 

18 (C) efforts that have been made to reduce 

19 the number of coins described in subparagraphs 

20 (A) and (B) to zero. 

21 (3) IMPROVEMENT OF CIRCULATION.—The 

22 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

23 shall— 

24 (A) undertake efforts to improve the cir25 culation and remove barriers to the circulation 


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1 of the $1 coin, other than those coins described 

2 under paragraph (1)(A); 

3 (B) issue a quarterly report to the Com4 mittee on Financial Services of the House of 

5 Representatives and the Committee on Bank6 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 

7 on— 

8 (i) what efforts have been made to im9 prove the circulation of $1 coins and what 

10 efforts are being planned to improve the 

11 circulation of $1 coins; 

12 (ii) the success of such efforts, includ13 ing an analysis of such coins held in stor14 age owned or controlled by the Federal Re15 serve System and the number such coins in 

16 circulation; 

17 (iii) barriers to the circulation of such 

18 coins, including the availability of such 

19 coins in quantities unmixed with the $1 

20 coins described in paragraph (1)(A); and 

21 (iv) the extent to which the Federal 

22 Reserve System and any agents of the 

23 Federal Reserve System are unable to 

24 meet end-user requests for delivery of 

25 unmixed quantities of such coins in whatVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:53 Sep 22, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2977.IH H2977

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1 ever form such end user requires, including 

2 rolls, disposable tubes, or volume bags of 

3 such coins. 

4 (4) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—The Board 

5 of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall 

6 continuously conduct outreach and education pro7 grams aimed at helping each business using or ac8 cepting cash to choose the best mix of $1 coins and 

9 banknotes to facilitate transactions and reduce costs 

10 of transactions and of ‘‘cashing out’’ at the end of 

11 a transaction period. 

12 (5) REPORT ON NATIVE AMERICAN COINS.—Not 

13 later than the end of the 3-month period beginning 

14 on the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu15 ally thereafter, the Board of Governors of the Fed16 eral Reserve System shall issue a report to the Com17 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep18 resentatives and the Committee on Banking, Hous19 ing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate on the Board’s 

20 efforts to improve the circulation of, and remove 

21 barriers to the circulation of, $1 coins bearing the 

22 so-called ‘‘Native American’’ designs, including any 

23 efforts to institute an introductory period for each 

24 new ‘‘Native American’’ design of the $1 coin during 


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1 which quantities are available unmixed with other 

2 designs. 

3 (6) USE OF $1 COINS BY FOREIGN COUN4 TRIES.—The Board of Governors of the Federal Re5 serve System shall work with the Departments of 

6 State and Treasury to ensure that countries that 

7 have adopted the dollar as a base unit of exchange 

8 and which place orders with the Federal Reserve 

9 System, or through any United States financial in10 stitution, for supplies of $1 monetary units, are fully 

11 briefed before placing each such order on the dura12 bility and longevity of $1 coins in high-circulation 

13 economies when used for transactions of a low dollar 

14 value. 

15 (b) PUBLICITY REQUIREMENT.—Section 5112(p)(2) 

16 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

17 after ‘‘Mint’’ the following: ‘‘and the Board of Governors 

18 of the Federal Reserve System’’. 

19 (c) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 

20 the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the 

21 enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Comp22 troller General of the United States and the Inspector 

23 General of the Federal Reserve System and the Bureau 

24 of Consumer Financial Protection shall each issue a report 

25 to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 


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1 Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

2 and Urban Affairs of the Senate on steps being taken by 

3 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

4 to carry out this Act. 

5 (d) CLARIFICATION WITH RESPECT TO SEIGNIOR6 AGE.—The ninth proviso of section 5136 of title 31, 

7 United States Code, is amended, by inserting after ‘‘mis8 cellaneous receipts’’ the following: ‘‘and such amount shall 

9 be included as an estimated receipt of the Government and 

10 a receipt of the Government under paragraphs (6) and (7), 

11 respectively, of section 1105(a) in any budget submitted 

12 under such section’’. 

13 SEC. 3. SAVING TAXPAYERS FUNDS BY TRANSITIONING TO 

14 THE USE OF $1 COINS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the policy of the United 

16 States that after $1 coins achieve sufficient market pene17 tration such that consumers and retailers are comfortable 

18 using $1 coins and are able to obtain adequate supplies 

19 of $1 coins, $1 coins should replace $1 Federal Reserve 

20 notes as the only $1 monetary unit issued and circulated 

21 by the Federal Reserve System. 

22 (b) DEADLINE FOR PLACING $1 FEDERAL RESERVE

23 NOTES INTO CIRCULATION.—Federal Reserve banks may 

24 continue to place into circulation $1 Federal Reserve notes 

25 until the earlier of— 


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1 (1) the date on which the number of $1 coins 

2 placed into circulation after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act exceeds 600,000,000 annually; and 

4 (2) the date that is 4 years after the date of the 

5 enactment of this Act. 

6 (c) TRANSITION PERIOD.—After the date referred to 

7 in subsection (b), a Federal Reserve bank may not order 

8 additional $1 Federal Reserve notes but may, for a period 

9 of one year, continue to place into circulation $1 Federal 

10 Reserve notes on hand or those deposited with it, except 

11 for notes described in subparagraph (d). 

12 (d) REMOVAL OF UNFIT CURRENCY.—After the date 

13 referred to in subparagraph (b), a Federal Reserve bank 

14 shall continue to remove unfit currency from circulation, 

15 and shall continue to destroy such currency. 

16 (e) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding subsections (b) 

17 and (c), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

18 System shall produce such Federal Reserve notes of $1 

19 denomination as the Board determines from time to time 

20 are appropriate solely to meet the needs of collectors of 

21 that denomination. Such notes shall be issued by 1 or 

22 more Federal Reserve banks in accordance with section 

23 16 of the Federal Reserve Act and sold by the Board, in 

24 whole or in part, under procedures prescribed by the 

25 Board. 


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1 (f) NO EFFECT ON LEGAL TENDER.—Notwith2 standing any other subsection of this section, $1 Federal 

3 Reserve notes are legal tender in the United States for 

4 all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, and 

5 duties, regardless of the date of printing or issue. 

Æ 


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