SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘March of Dimes Com-
memorative Coin Act of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal 
struggle with polio led him to create the National 
Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as 
the March of Dimes) on January 3, 1938, at a time 
when polio was on the rise. 
(2) The Foundation established patient aid pro-
grams and funded research for polio vaccines devel-
oped by Jonas Salk, MD, and Albert Sabin, MD. 
(3) Tested in a massive field trial in 1954 that 
involved 1.8 million schoolchildren known as ‘‘polio 
pioneers’’, the Salk vaccine was licensed for use on 
April 12, 1955 as ‘‘safe, effective, and potent’’. The 
Salk and Sabin polio vaccines funded by the March 
of Dimes ended the polio epidemic in the United 
States. 
(4) With its original mission accomplished, the 
Foundation turned its focus to preventing birth de-
fects, prematurity, and infant mortality in 1958. 
The Foundation began to fund research into the ge-
netic, prenatal, and environmental causes of over 
3,000 birth defects.
(5) The Foundation’s investment in research 
has led to 13 scientists winning the Nobel Prize 
since 1954, including Dr. James Watson’s discovery 
of the double helix. 
(6) Virginia Apgar, MD, creator of the Apgar 
Score, helped develop the Foundation’s mission for 
birth defects prevention; joining the Foundation as 
the head of its new birth defects division in 1959. 
(7) In the 1960s, the Foundation created over 
100 birth defects treatment centers, and then turned 
its attention to assisting in the development of Neo-
natal Intensive Care Units, or NICUs. 
(8) With March of Dimes support, a Committee 
on Perinatal Health released Toward Improving the 
Outcome of Pregnancy in 1976, which included rec-
ommendations that led to the regionalization of 
perinatal health care in the United States. 
(9) Since 1998, the March of Dimes has advo-
cated for and witnessed the passage of the Birth De-
fects 
Prevention 
Act, 
Children’s 
Health 
Act, 
PREEMIE Act, and Newborn Screening Save Lives 
Act. 
(10) In 2003, the March of Dimes launched a 
Prematurity Campaign to increase awareness about 
and reduce the incidence of preterm birth, infant
mortality, birth defects, and lifelong disabilities and 
disorders. 
(11) The March of Dimes actively promotes 
programs for and funds research into newborn 
screening, pulmonary surfactant therapy, maternal 
nutrition, smoking cessation, folic acid consumption 
to prevent neural tube defects, increased access to 
maternity care, and similar programs to improve 
maternal and infant health. 
SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 
(a) $1 SILVER COINS.—In recognition and celebra-
tion of the founding and proud service of the March of 
Dimes, the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue 
not more than 500,000 $1 coins, which shall— 
(1) weigh 26.73 grams; 
(2) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and 
(3) contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent 
copper. 
(b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this 
Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of 
title 31, United States Code. 
(c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins
minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis-
matic items. 
SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 
(a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The design of the coins 
minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the 
mission and programs of the March of Dimes, and 
its distinguished record of generating Americans’ 
support to protect our children’s health. 
(2) DESIGNATION
AND
INSCRIPTIONS.—On 
each coin minted under this Act, there shall be— 
(A) a designation of the value of the coin; 
(B) an inscription of the year ‘‘2015’’; and 
(C) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, 
‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer-
ica’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 
(b) SELECTION.—The design for the coins minted 
under this Act shall— 
(1) contain motifs that represent the past, 
present, and future of the March of Dimes and its 
role as champion for all babies, such designs to be 
consistent with the traditions and heritage of the 
March of Dimes;
(2) be selected by the Secretary, after consulta-
tion with the March of Dimes and the Commission 
of Fine Arts; and 
(3) be reviewed by the Citizens Coin Advisory 
Committee. 
SEC. 5. ISSUANCE. 
(a) QUALITY OF COINS.—Coins minted under this 
Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 
(b) MINT FACILITY.—For the coins minted under 
this Act, at least 1 facility of the United States Mint shall 
be used to strike proof quality coins, while at least 1 other 
such facility shall be used to strike the uncirculated qual-
ity coins. 
(c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary of the 
Treasury may issue coins minted under this Act only dur-
ing the 1-year period beginning on January 1, 2015. 
SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 
(a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act 
shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum 
of— 
(1) the face value of the coins; 
(2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with 
respect to such coins; and