SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The United States Mint, in its 2001 annual 
report, announced that it was studying alternative 
metals for use in circulating coins, but has never re-
leased the study publicly or delivered it to Congress. 
(2) In May, 2006, the United States Mint deliv-
ered communications to the Congress indicating that 
the cost to produce circulating coins had increased 
dramatically owing to worldwide demand for com-
modity metals, to the point where— 
(A) the price to produce 1-cent and 5-cent 
coins had or soon would surpass the face value 
of such coins; and 
(B) the cost to produce the 10-cent and 
quarter-dollar coins, while not exceeding their 
face value, had increased dramatically. 
(3) Such cost increases alone, while minimal 
per individual coins, taken together could increase 
the cost to taxpayers $1,000,000,000 or more over 
a decade. 
(4) In spite of having communicated the infor-
mation concerning this costly dilemma, neither the 
Secretary of the Treasury or the Director of the 
United States Mint has made any recommendation 
for changing the metallic content of circulating coins 
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in order to reduce the cost to produce such coins 
and thus control the effect on the general fund of 
the Treasury. 
(5) Other countries, recognizing the effect of 
the increase in commodity metal prices on the cost 
of producing circulating coins, have adjusted the 
metal content of some or all of their circulating 
coins in the period in which there has been no 
change in the metal content of United States circu-
lating coins. 
(6) Canada has for several years produced a 
cent coin similar in size and weight to the United 
States 1-cent coin that is made of steel with a thin 
coating of copper, leading to a unit cost to produce 
such coins considerably less than that of the U.S. 
cent coin, and uses similar production techniques to 
control the costs of all of its circulating coins. 
(7) In 1943, owing to demands for copper due 
to the prosecution of World War II, the Mint pro-
duced the so-called ‘‘steel pennies’’ which were zinc- 
coated steel blanks. 
(8) In view of the prior experience of the 
United States Mint in producing the ‘‘steel pennies’’, 
there is no reason not to change the metal content 
of the cent coin immediately, and simply dropping 
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the unit production cost of a 1-cent coin below its 
face 
value 
would 
save 
the 
Treasury 
nearly 
$1,000,000,000 over the next decade at current pro-
duction levels. 
(9) Any changes to the metallic content of the 
5-cent, 10-cent and quarter-dollar coins should be 
made simultaneously, to minimize the cost of adjust-
ments that would need to be made to coin-accepting, 
coin-counting, and other coin-handling equipment 
and thus control costs to consumers. 
SEC. 3. REDUCING THE COST TO TAXPAYERS OF PRO-
DUCING THE PENNY. 
(a) STEEL PENNIES REQUIRED.—Subsection (c) of 
section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 
to read as follows: 
‘‘(c) 1-CENT COIN.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The 1-cent coin shall— 
‘‘(A) be produced primarily of steel; and 
‘‘(B) meet such other specifications as the 
Secretary may determine to be appropriate, in-
cluding any change in the weight from that 
specified in subsection (a)(6). 
‘‘(2) TREATMENT.—The 1-cent coin shall be 
treated to impart a copper color to the appearance 
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of the coins so that the appearance is similar to 1- 
cent coins produced of a copper-zinc alloy. 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL 
NUMISMATIC PENNIES.—No provision of this sub-
section shall apply with respect to 1-cent coins de-
scribed in section 304 of the Presidential $1 Coin 
Act of 2005 that are issued for numismatic pur-
poses.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply to all 1-cent coins issued after 
the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. REDUCING THE COST TO TAXPAYERS OF PRO-
DUCING OTHER CIRCULATING COINS WITH-
OUT INTERFERING WITH THE WAY SUCH 
COINS ARE HANDLED BY BUSINESS, GOVERN-
MENT, AND CONSUMERS IN THE COURSE OF 
ORDINARY COMMERCE. 
(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 60- 
day period beginning at the end of the 90-day period re-
ferred to in section 3(b), the Secretary of the Treasury 
shall submit a report to the Committee on Financial Serv-
ices of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 
describing a unified plan developed by the Secretary to 
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change the metallic content of the 5-cent, 10-cent, quar-
ter-dollar and half-dollar circulating coins produced by the 
Secretary in such a way as to return the ratios between 
the unit cost to produce such coins and the face value of 
such coins to a point where it is as close as possible to 
the historic production cost to face value ratios achieved 
in the 1980s. 
(b) DETAILED
RECOMMENDATIONS
AND
MODEL 
LEGISLATION.—The reports required under this section 
shall contain detailed recommendations for the metallic 
content of each coin in such a form that the recommenda-
tions could be enacted into law within 30 days after the 
receipt of such report and appropriate congressional hear-
ings and the production of such coins with new metallic 
content could begin within 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of such new specifications, should the Congress 
so choose. 
(c) IMPROVED PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY.—The re-
ports required under this section shall include rec-
ommendations for changes in the methods of producing 
coins at the United States Mints that would further reduce 
the costs to produce circulating coins. 
(d) MINIMIZING POTENTIAL CONVERSION COSTS.— 
The reports required under this section shall— 
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(1) include no recommendation for new speci-
fications for producing a circulating coin that would 
require more than 1 change to coin-accepting and 
coin-handling equipment to accommodate changes to 
all circulating coins simultaneously; and 
(2) to the greatest extent possible, recommend 
specifications that, while consistent with other por-
tions of this section and the amendments made by 
this Act, require no changes to coin-accepting or 
coin-handling equipment whatsoever to accommodate 
both coins produced with the new specifications and 
coins produced as of July 31, 2007. 
(e) FRAUD
PREVENTION.—The reports required 
under this section shall make no recommendation for a 
specification change that would facilitate or allow the use 
of a coin with a lesser value produced by another country, 
or the use of any token or other easily or regularly pro-
duced metal device of minimal value, in the place of a cir-
culating coin produced by the Secretary. 
(f) FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE 1-CENT 
COIN.—Notwithstanding the amendment made by section 
3, the reports required by this section may contain any 
recommendation of the Secretary for any further changes 
to the metallic content of the 1-cent coin, other than the 
content of 1-cent coins described in section 304 of the 
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Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 that are issued for nu-
mismatic purposes, that the Secretary determines is more 
effective to reduce the unit production costs for such coins. 
(g) ANNUAL REVIEW AND UPDATE.—At 1-year inter-
vals following the submission of a report under subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee 
on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
of the Senate reviewing the metallic content of the 1-cent, 
5-cent, 10-cent, quarter-dollar and half-dollar circulating 
coins produced by the Secretary. Each such report shall 
comply with the requirements of this section for reports 
submitted under subsection (a). 
SEC. 5. PROCUREMENT OF RESEARCH, TESTING, AND COM-
MODITIES. 
The Secretary of the Treasury may, to accomplish the 
goals of this Act, and consistent with the Secretary’s de-
velopment of the metallic content of the currently pro-
duced 1-dollar coin and the currently produced 5-cent, 10- 
cent, quarter-dollar and half-dollar coins, solicit input 
from within or without the Federal Government, including 
research facilities or the 2 current suppliers of the raw 
material for volume production of circulating coins with 
such new metallic content, and conduct any appropriate 
testing within or without the Department of the Treasury, 
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consistent with all other applicable Federal laws on the 
procurement, or potential procurement of materials nec-
essary for the performance of the duties of the Secretary. 
Æ 
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