To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of Louis Braille.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Louis Braille Bicentennial--Braille 
Literacy Commemorative Coin Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
        (1) Louis Braille, who invented the Braille method for reading 
    and writing by the blind that has allowed millions of blind people 
    to be literate participants in their societies, was born in 
    Coupvray, a small village near Paris, on January 4, 1809.
        (2) Braille lost his sight at the age of three after injuring 
    himself with an awl in the shop of his father Rene, a maker of 
    harnesses and other objects of leather.
        (3) A youth who was both intelligent and creative and was 
    blessed with dedicated parents, a thoughtful local priest and an 
    energetic local schoolteacher, Braille adapted to the situation and 
    attended local school with other youths of his age, an unheard-of 
    practice for a blind child of the period.
        (4) At the age of 10, when his schooling otherwise would have 
    stopped, Braille--with the aid of the priest and schoolteacher--was 
    given a scholarship by a local nobleman and went to Paris to attend 
    the Royal Institute for Blind Children where he became the youngest 
    pupil.
        (5) At the school, most instruction was oral but Braille found 
    there were books for the blind--large, expensive-to-produce books 
    in which the text was of large letters embossed upon the page.
        (6) Soon Braille had read all 14 books in the school, but 
    thirsted for more.
        (7) A captain in Napoleon's army, Charles Barbier de la Serre, 
    had invented ``night writing'', a method for communicating on the 
    battlefield amidst the thick smoke of combat or at night without 
    lighting a match--which would aid enemy gunners--that used dots and 
    dashes that were felt and interpreted with the fingers, and later 
    adapted the method for use by the blind, calling it Sonography 
    because it represented words by sounds, rather than spelling.
        (8) Braille adopted the Sonography method instantly but soon 
    recognized that the basis in sound and the large number of dots--as 
    many as 12--used to represent words was too cumbersome.
        (9) By the age of 15, and using a blunt awl, the same sort of 
    tool that had blinded him, Braille had developed what is 
    essentially modern Braille, a code that uses no more than 6 dots in 
    a ``cell'' of 2 columns of 3 dots each to represent each letter and 
    contains a system of punctuation and of ``contractions'' to speed 
    writing and reading.
        (10) In contrast to the bulky books consisting of large 
    embossed letters, Braille books can contain as many as 1000 
    characters or contractions on a standard 11-by-12-inch page of 
    heavy paper, and to this day Braille can be punched with an awl-
    like ``stylus'' into paper held in a metal ``slate'' that is very 
    similar to the ones that Louis Braille adapted from Barbier's 
    original ``night writing'' devices.
        (11) Also a talented organist who supported himself by giving 
    concerts, Braille went on to develop the Braille representation of 
    music and in 1829 published the first-ever Braille book, a manual 
    about how to read and write music.
        (12) 8 years later, in 1837, Braille followed that publication 
    with another book detailing a system of representation of 
    mathematics.
        (13) Braille's talents were quickly recognized, and at 17 he 
    was made the first blind apprentice teacher at the school, where he 
    taught algebra, grammar, music, and geography.
        (14) He and two blind classmates, his friends who probably were 
    the first people to learn to read and write Braille, later became 
    the first three blind full professors at the school.
        (15) However, despite the fact that many blind people 
    enthusiastically adopted the system of writing and reading, there 
    was great skepticism among sighted people about the real usefulness 
    of Braille's code, and even at the Royal Institute, it was not 
    taught until after his death on January 6, 1852.
        (16) Braille did not start to spread widely until 1868 when a 
    group of British men--later to become known as the Royal National 
    Institute for the Blind--began publicizing and teaching the system.
        (17) Braille did not become the official and sole method of 
    reading and writing for blind United States citizens until the 20th 
    Century.
        (18) Helen Keller, a Braille reader of another generation, 
    said: ``Braille has been a most precious aid to me in many ways. It 
    made my going to college possible--it was the only method by which 
    I could take notes on lectures. All my examination papers were 
    copied for me in this system. I use Braille as a spider uses its 
    web--to catch thoughts that flit across my mind for speeches, 
    messages and manuscripts.''.
        (19) While rapid technological advances in the 20th Century 
    have greatly aided the blind in many ways by speeding access to 
    information, each advance has seen a commensurate drop in the 
    teaching of Braille, to the point that only about 10 percent of 
    blind students today are taught the system.
        (20) However, for the blind not to know Braille is in itself a 
    handicap, because literacy is the ability to read and the ability 
    to write and the ability to do the two interactively.
        (21) The National Federation of the Blind, the Nation's oldest 
    membership organization consisting of blind members, has been a 
    champion of the Braille code, of Braille literacy for all blind 
    people and of the memory of Louis Braille, and continues its 
    Braille literacy efforts today through its divisions emphasizing 
    Braille literacy, emphasizing education of blind children and 
    emphasizing employment of the blind.
        (22) Braille literacy aids the blind in taking responsible and 
    self-sufficient roles in society, such as employment: while 70 
    percent of the blind are unemployed, 85 percent of the employed 
    blind are Braille-literate.

SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall mint and issue not more 
than 400,000 $1 coins bearing the designs specified in section 4(a), 
each of 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 section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all coins minted under this Act shall be considered 
to be numismatic 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 life and legacy of Louis Braille.
        (2) Obverse.--The design on the obverse shall bear a 
    representation of the image of Louis Braille.
        (3) Reverse.--The design on the reverse shall emphasize Braille 
    literacy and shall specifically include the word for Braille in 
    Braille code (the Braille capital sign and the letters Brl) 
    represented in a way that substantially complies with section 3 of 
    Specification 800 of the National Library Service for the Blind and 
    Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress specifications 
    for Braille, and is tactilely indiscernible from printed or written 
    Braille.
        (4) 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 ``2009''; and
            (C) inscriptions of the words ``Liberty'', ``In God We 
        Trust'', ``United States of America'', and ``E Pluribus Unum''.
    (b) Selection.--The design for the coins minted under this Act 
shall be--
        (1) selected by the Secretary after consultation with the 
    Commission of Fine Arts and the National Federation of the Blind; 
    and
        (2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS.

    (a) Quality of Coins.--Coins minted under this Act shall be issued 
in uncirculated and proof qualities.
    (b) Mint Facility.--Only 1 facility of the United States Mint may 
be used to strike any particular quality of the coins minted under this 
Act.
    (c) Period for Issuance.--The Secretary may issue coins minted 
under this Act only during the 1-year period beginning on January 1, 
2009.

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
        (3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins (including 
    labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses, 
    marketing, and shipping).
    (b) Bulk Sales.--The Secretary shall make bulk sales of the coins 
issued under this Act at a reasonable discount.
    (c) Prepaid Orders.--
        (1) In general.--The Secretary shall accept prepaid orders for 
    the coins minted under this Act before the issuance of such coins.
        (2) Discount.--Sale prices with respect to prepaid orders under 
    paragraph (1) shall be at a reasonable discount.

SEC. 7. SURCHARGES.

    (a) Surcharge Required.--All sales of coins under this Act shall 
include a surcharge of $10 per coin.
    (b) Distribution.--Subject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United 
States Code, all surcharges which are received by the Secretary from 
the sale of coins issued under this Act shall be promptly paid by the 
Secretary to the National Federation of the Blind to further its 
programs to promote Braille literacy.
    (c) Audits.--The National Federation of the Blind shall be subject 
to the audit requirements of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United 
States Code, with regard to the amounts received by the National 
Federation under subsection (b).
    (d) Limitation.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge may 
be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of any coin 
during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance, the 
issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemorative coin 
programs issued during such year to exceed the annual 2 commemorative 
coin program issuance limitation under section 5112(m)(1) of title 31, 
United States Code (as in effect on the date of the enactment of this 
Act). The Secretary of the Treasury may issue guidance to carry out 
this subsection.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.

Summary: Louis Braille Bicentennial--Braille Literacy Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue $1 coins emblematic of the life and legacy of Louis Braille.

Requires the design on the obverse to bear a representation of the image of Louis Braille.

Requires the design on the reverse to emphasize Braille literacy and to include the word for Braille in Braille code in a way that substantially complies with Specification 800 of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress specifications for Braille, and is tactilely indiscernible from printed or written Braille.

Authorizes the Secretary to issue such coins only during 2009.

Subjects all coin sales to a surcharge of $10 per coin, except when issuance of a coin would exceed the annual two commermorative coin program issuance limitation.

Requires all surcharges to be promptly paid by the Secretary to the National Federation of the Blind to further its programs to promote Braille literacy.