I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5512 
To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe the weights and 
the compositions of circulating coins, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 28, 2008 
Mr. SPACE (for himself, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe 
the weights and the compositions of circulating coins, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coin Modernization 
and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) International demand along with market 
speculation for commodity metals has, over the past 
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several years, increased the cost of producing circu-
lating coins in the United States. 
(2) In a July 30, 2007, letter to Congress, the 
Department of the Treasury, with support of the 
Administration’s Office of Management and Budget, 
requested that legislation be put forward to author-
ize the Secretary of the Treasury to make changes 
to the composition of circulating coins. 
(3) The United States Mint has studied alter-
native metals for use in circulating coins, as noticed 
in its 2004 annual report. 
(4) In 1943, the United States Mint produced 
zinc-coated steel pennies in response to war-time de-
mands for copper. 
(5) The United States Mint gained further ex-
perience changing the metal content of pennies in 
1982, when it began producing copper-coated zinc 
pennies as a result of rising copper prices. 
(6) The Royal Canadian Mint has produced for 
several years a copper-coated steel 1-cent coin that 
is similar to the United States penny at a signifi-
cantly lower cost than the cost to produce the 
United States penny. 
(7) Given the current cost to make a penny and 
volume of pennies minted, by simply reducing penny 
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production costs to face value, the United States will 
save nearly $600,000,000 dollars in the next 10 
years alone. 
(8) Removing the statutory language that re-
quires specific weights and content for circulating 
coins will allow the Secretary of the Treasury to 
make adjustments to any circulating coin when ris-
ing metal prices makes its production costs prohibi-
tive, which will create additional future savings to 
the government. 
(9) Commodity metal prices are often cyclical in 
nature, and can be inflated by speculation, so it is 
important that a solid trend in the rising price of a 
commodity metal be established before any change in 
the metal content of a coin is made. 
(10) Congress has delegated the authority to 
coin money to the Secretary of the Treasury since 
1792. 
(11) Congress has additionally delegated au-
thority to the Secretary of the Treasury to deter-
mine the composition of some coins. 
(12) The United States $1 Coin Act of 1997 
(31 U.S.C. 5101 nt.) delegated to the Secretary the 
authority to determine the composition of the dollar 
coin. 
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(13) In Public Law 93–441, Congress gave the 
Secretary the authority to determine the weights and 
alloys of the copper and zinc in 1-cent coins. 
SEC. 3. WEIGHTS AND COMPOSITIONS OF CIRCULATING 
COINS. 
(a) WEIGHT
AND COMPOSITION
OF CIRCULATING 
COINS DETERMINED BY THE SECRETARY.—Subsection 
(c) of section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(c) WEIGHT AND COMPOSITION OF COINS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pre-
scribe the weight and the composition of the dollar, 
half dollar, quarter dollar, dime, 5-cent, and 1-cent 
coins. The coins shall be coined, minted and mate-
rials fabricated in the United States. 
‘‘(2) FACTORS
TO
BE
CONSIDERED.—In pre-
scribing the weight and the composition of the dol-
lar, half dollar, quarter dollar, dime, 5-cent, and 1- 
cent coins, the Secretary shall consider— 
‘‘(A) factors relevant to the potential im-
pact of any revisions to the weight and composi-
tion of the material on the current coin sup-
pliers; 
‘‘(B) factors relevant to the acceptability of 
new coinage materials, including the effect on 
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vending machines and commercial coin proc-
essing equipment; making certain any new coins 
work without interruption in existing coin ac-
ceptance equipment without modification; and 
‘‘(C) such other factors that the Secretary, 
in consultation with merchants who would be 
affected by any change in the weight and com-
position of currency denominations, vending 
machine and other coin acceptor manufacturers, 
vending machine owners and operators, transit 
officials, municipal parking officials, depository 
institutions, coin and currency handlers, ar-
mored-car operators, car wash operators, and 
American-owned manufacturers of commercial 
coin processing equipment, considers to be ap-
propriate and in the public interest, in accord-
ance with subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
‘‘(3) COMMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS.—In 
making any determination with respect to any 
change in the weight and composition of any coin, 
the Secretary shall enter into a formal rulemaking 
process.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
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(1) Section 5112(a) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and 
weighs 11.34 grams’’; 
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and 
weighs 5.67 grams’’; 
(C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and 
weighs 2.268 grams’’; 
(D) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and 
weighs 5 grams’’; and 
(E) by striking paragraph (6) and insert-
ing the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(6) A 1-cent coin that is 0.75 inch in diame-
ter.’’. 
(2) Section 5112(b) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) SPECIFICATIONS
FOR $1 COINS
AND GOLD 
COINS.—The $1 coin shall be golden in color, have a dis-
tinctive edge, have tactile and visual features that make 
the denomination of the coin readily discernible, be coined, 
be minted and material fabricated in the United States, 
and have similar metallic, anti-counterfeiting properties as 
United States coinage in circulation on the date of enact-
ment of the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997. In mint-
ing gold coins, the Secretary shall use alloys that vary not 
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more than 0.1 percent from the percent of gold required. 
The specifications for alloys are by weight.’’. 
(3) Section 5113(a) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended— 
(A) in the 1st sentence, by striking ‘‘and 
dime coins’’ and inserting ‘‘dime, 5-cent, and 1- 
cent coins.’’; and 
(B) by striking the second and third sen-
tences. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), the amendments made by this section as 
it pertains to each individual coin, other than sub-
section (b)(1)(E), shall take effect at the end of the 
fiscal year which is the 5th of 5 sequential fiscal 
years in each of which the net cost of producing 
such circulating coins under section 5112 of title 31, 
United States Code, other than the 1-cent coin, has 
exceeded the total face value of such coin. 
(2) 1-CENT COIN.—The amendments made by 
this section, to the extent such amendments relate to 
the 1-cent coin, shall take effect as of the date of 
the enactment of this Act, subject to the amendment 
made by section 4. 
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SEC. 4. IMMEDIATE REDUCTION IN THE COST OF PRO-
DUCING PENNIES THROUGH THE USE OF 
STEEL PENNIES. 
Subsection (c) of section 5112 of title 31, United 
States Code, (as amended by section 3(a)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) INTERIM STEEL 1-CENT COIN.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—During the period be-
ginning 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer 
Savings Act of 2008 and ending on the effective 
date of any subsequent change by the Secretary 
of the composition of the 1-cent coin under 
paragraph (1), the 1-cent coin shall— 
‘‘(i) be produced primarily of steel; 
and 
‘‘(ii) meet such other specifications as 
the Secretary may determine to be appro-
priate, including any change in the weight 
from that specified in subsection (a)(6). 
‘‘(B) TREATMENT.—The 1-cent coin shall 
be treated to impart a copper color to the ap-
pearance of the coins so that the appearance is 
similar to 1-cent coins produced of a copper- 
zinc alloy. 
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‘‘(C) EXCEPTION FOR LINCOLN BICENTEN-
NIAL NUMISMATIC PENNIES.—No provision of 
this paragraph shall apply with respect to 1- 
cent coins described in section 304 of the Presi-
dential $1 Coin Act of 2005 that are issued for 
numismatic purposes.’’. 
Æ 
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