II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3187 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2012 

Received 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins 

in recognition and celebration of the 75th anniversary 

of the establishment of the March of Dimes Foundation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘March of Dimes Com3 memorative Coin Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal 

7 struggle with polio led him to create the National 

8 Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as 

9 the March of Dimes) on January 3, 1938, at a time 

10 when polio was on the rise. 

11 (2) The Foundation established patient aid pro12 grams and funded research for polio vaccines devel13 oped by Jonas Salk, MD, and Albert Sabin, MD. 

14 (3) Tested in a massive field trial in 1954 that 

15 involved 1.8 million schoolchildren known as ‘‘polio 

16 pioneers’’, the Salk vaccine was licensed for use on 

17 April 12, 1955 as ‘‘safe, effective, and potent’’. The 

18 Salk and Sabin polio vaccines funded by the March 

19 of Dimes ended the polio epidemic in the United 

20 States. 

21 (4) With its original mission accomplished, the 

22 Foundation turned its focus to preventing birth de23 fects, prematurity, and infant mortality in 1958. 

24 The Foundation began to fund research into the ge25 netic, prenatal, and environmental causes of over 

26 3,000 birth defects. 


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1 (5) The Foundation’s investment in research 

2 has led to 13 scientists winning the Nobel Prize 

3 since 1954, including Dr. James Watson’s discovery 

4 of the double helix. 

5 (6) Virginia Apgar, MD, creator of the Apgar 

6 Score, helped develop the Foundation’s mission for 

7 birth defects prevention; joining the Foundation as 

8 the head of its new birth defects division in 1959. 

9 (7) In the 1960s, the Foundation created over 

10 100 birth defects treatment centers, and then turned 

11 its attention to assisting in the development of Neo12 natal Intensive Care Units, or NICUs. 

13 (8) With March of Dimes support, a Committee 

14 on Perinatal Health released Toward Improving the 

15 Outcome of Pregnancy in 1976, which included rec16 ommendations that led to the regionalization of 

17 perinatal health care in the United States. 

18 (9) Since 1998, the March of Dimes has advo19 cated for and witnessed the passage of the Birth De20 fects Prevention Act, Children’s Health Act, 

21 PREEMIE Act, and Newborn Screening Save Lives 

22 Act. 

23 (10) In 2003, the March of Dimes launched a 

24 Prematurity Campaign to increase awareness about 

25 and reduce the incidence of preterm birth, infant 


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1 mortality, birth defects, and lifelong disabilities and 

2 disorders. 

3 (11) The March of Dimes actively promotes 

4 programs for and funds research into newborn 

5 screening, pulmonary surfactant therapy, maternal 

6 nutrition, smoking cessation, folic acid consumption 

7 to prevent neural tube defects, increased access to 

8 maternity care, and similar programs to improve 

9 maternal and infant health. 

10 SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 

11 (a) $1 SILVER COINS.—In recognition and celebra12 tion of the founding and proud service of the March of 

13 Dimes, the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 

14 Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue 

15 not more than 500,000 $1 coins, which shall— 

16 (1) weigh 26.73 grams; 

17 (2) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and 

18 (3) contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent 

19 copper. 

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

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

22 title 31, United States Code. 

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

24 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins 


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1 minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis2 matic items. 

3 SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 

4 (a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

6 minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the 

7 mission and programs of the March of Dimes, and 

8 its distinguished record of generating Americans’ 

9 support to protect our children’s health. 

10 (2) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On 

11 each coin minted under this Act, there shall be— 

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

13 (B) an inscription of the year ‘‘2015’’; and 

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

15 ‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer16 ica’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 

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

18 under this Act shall— 

19 (1) contain motifs that represent the past, 

20 present, and future of the March of Dimes and its 

21 role as champion for all babies, such designs to be 

22 consistent with the traditions and heritage of the 

23 March of Dimes; 


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1 (2) be selected by the Secretary, after consulta2 tion with the March of Dimes and the Commission 

3 of Fine Arts; and 

4 (3) be reviewed by the Citizens Coin Advisory 

5 Committee. 

6 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE. 

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

8 Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 

9 (b) MINT FACILITY.—For the coins minted under 

10 this Act, at least 1 facility of the United States Mint shall 

11 be used to strike proof quality coins, while at least 1 other 

12 such facility shall be used to strike the uncirculated qual13 ity coins. 

14 (c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary of the 

15 Treasury may issue coins minted under this Act only dur16 ing the 1-year period beginning on January 1, 2015. 

17 SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 

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

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

20 of— 

21 (1) the face value of the coins; 

22 (2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with 

23 respect to such coins; and 


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

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

3 overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping). 

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

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

6 discount. 

7 (c) PREPAID ORDERS.— 

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

9 prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act 

10 before the issuance of such coins. 

11 (2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre12 paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea13 sonable discount. 

14 SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 

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

16 this Act shall include a surcharge of $10 per coin. 

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

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

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

20 shall be promptly paid by the Secretary to the March of 

21 Dimes to help finance research, education, and services 

22 aimed at improving the health of women, infants, and chil23 dren. 

24 (c) AUDITS.—The March of Dimes shall be subject 

25 to the audit requirements of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, 


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1 United States Code, with regard to the amounts received 

2 under subsection (b). 

3 (d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 

4 no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance 

5 under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as 

6 of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin 

7 would result in the number of commemorative coin pro8 grams issued during such year to exceed the annual 2 

9 commemorative coin program issuance limitation under 

10 section 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code. The 

11 Secretary may issue guidance to carry out this subsection. 

12 SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES. 

13 The Secretary shall take such actions as may be nec14 essary to ensure that— 

15 (1) minting and issuing coins under this Act 

16 will not result in any net cost to the United States 

17 Government; and 

18 (2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, 

19 shall be disbursed to any recipient designated in sec20 tion 7 until the total cost of designing and issuing 

21 all of the coins authorized by this Act (including 

22 labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead ex23 penses, marketing, and shipping) is recovered by the 

24 United States Treasury, consistent with sections 


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1 5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States 

2 Code. 

3 SEC. 9. BUDGET COMPLIANCE. 

4 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

5 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

6 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

7 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

8 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

9 by the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the 

10 House of Representatives, provided that such statement 

11 has been submitted prior to the vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives August 1, 

2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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