[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 6184 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.6184
One Hundred Tenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
the third day of January, two thousand and eight
An Act
To provide for a program for circulating quarter dollar coins that are
emblematic of a national park or other national site in each State, the
District of Columbia, and each territory of the United States, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``America's Beautiful National Parks
Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008''.
TITLE I--NATIONAL SITE QUARTER DOLLARS
SEC. 101. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Yellowstone National Park was established by an Act signed
by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, as the Nation's
first national park.
(2) The summer and autumn of 1890 saw the establishment of a
number of national sites:
(A) August 19: Chickamauga and Chattanooga established as
national military parks in Georgia and Tennessee.
(B) August 30: Antietam established as a national
battlefield site in Maryland.
(C) September 25: Sequoia National Park established in
California.
(D) September 27: Rock Creek Park established in the
District of Columbia.
(E) October 1: General Grant National Park established in
California (and subsequently incorporated in Kings Canyon
National Park).
(F) October 1: Yosemite National Park established in
California.
(3) Theodore Roosevelt was this nation's 26th President and is
considered by many to be our ``Conservationist President''.
(4) As a frequent visitor to the West, Theodore Roosevelt
witnessed the virtual destruction of some big game species and the
overgrazing that destroyed the grasslands and with them the
habitats for small mammals and songbirds and conservation
increasingly became one of his major concerns.
(5) When he became President in 1901, Roosevelt pursued this
interest in conservation by establishing the first 51 Bird
Reserves, 4 Game Preserves, and 150 National Forests.
(6) He also established the United States Forest Service,
signed into law the creation of 5 National Parks, and signed the
Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities in 1906 under
which he proclaimed 18 national monuments.
(7) Approximately 230,000,000 acres of area within the United
States was placed under public protection by Theodore Roosevelt.
(8) Theodore Roosevelt said that nothing short of defending
this country in wartime ``compares in importance with the great
central task of leaving this land even a better land for our
descendants than it is for us''.
(9) The National Park Service was created by an Act signed by
President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916.
(10) The National Park System comprises 391 areas covering more
than 84,000,000 acres in every State (except Delaware), the
District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the
Virgin Islands.
(11) The sites or areas within the National Park System vary
widely in size and type from vast natural wilderness to birthplaces
of Presidents to world heritage archaeology sites to an African
burial ground memorial in Manhattan and include national parks,
monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic
sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and
trails, and the White House.
(12) In addition to the sites within the National Park System,
the United States has placed numerous other types of sites under
various forms of conservancy, such as the national forests and
sites within the National Wildlife Refuge System and on the
National Register of Historic Places.
SEC. 102. ISSUANCE OF REDESIGNED QUARTER DOLLARS EMBLEMATIC OF
NATIONAL PARKS OR OTHER NATIONAL SITES IN EACH STATE, THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND EACH TERRITORY.
Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding
at the end the following new subsection:
``(t) Redesign and Issuance of Quarter Dollars Emblematic of
National Sites in Each State, the District of Columbia, and Each
Territory.--
``(1) Redesign beginning upon completion of prior program.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding the fourth sentence of
subsection (d)(1) and subsection (d)(2), quarter dollars issued
beginning in 2010 shall have designs on the reverse selected in
accordance with this subsection which are emblematic of the
national sites in the States, the District of Columbia and the
territories of the United States.
``(B) Flexibility with regard to placement of
inscriptions.--Notwithstanding subsection (d)(1), the Secretary
may select a design for quarter dollars referred to in
subparagraph (A) in which--
``(i) the inscription described in the second sentence
of subsection (d)(1) appears on the reverse side of any
such quarter dollars; and
``(ii) any inscription described in the third sentence
of subsection (d)(1) or the designation of the value of the
coin appears on the obverse side of any such quarter
dollars.
``(C) Inclusion of district of columbia, and territories.--
For purposes of this subsection, the term `State' has the same
meaning as in section 3(a)(3) of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Act.
``(2) Single site in each state.--The design on the reverse
side of each quarter dollar issued during the period of issuance
under this subsection shall be emblematic of 1 national site in
each State.
``(3) Selection of site and design.--
``(A) Site.--
``(i) In general.--The selection of a national park or
other national site in each State to be honored with a coin
under this subsection shall be made by the Secretary of the
Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of the
Interior and the governor or other chief executive of each
State with respect to which a coin is to be issued under
this subsection, and after giving full and thoughtful
consideration to national sites that are not under the
jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior so that the
national site chosen for each State shall be the most
appropriate in terms of natural or historic significance.
``(ii) Timing.--The selection process under clause (i)
shall be completed before the end of the 270-day period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the America's
Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008.
``(B) Design.--Each of the designs required under this
subsection for quarter dollars shall be--
``(i) selected by the Secretary after consultation
with--
``(I) the Secretary of the Interior; and
``(II) the Commission of Fine Arts; and
``(ii) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory
Committee.
``(C) Selection and approval process.--Recommendations for
site selections and designs for quarter dollars may be
submitted in accordance with the site and design selection and
approval process developed by the Secretary in the sole
discretion of the Secretary.
``(D) Participation in design.--The Secretary may include
participation by officials of the State, artists from the
State, engravers of the United States Mint, and members of the
general public.
``(E) Standards.--Because it is important that the Nation's
coinage and currency bear dignified designs of which the
citizens of the United States can be proud, the Secretary shall
not select any frivolous or inappropriate design for any
quarter dollar minted under this subsection.
``(F) Prohibition on certain representations.--No head and
shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, no
portrait of a living person, and no outline or map of a State
may be included in the design on the reverse of any quarter
dollar under this subsection.
``(4) Issuance of coins.--
``(A) Order of issuance.--The quarter dollar coins issued
under this subsection bearing designs of national sites shall
be issued in the order in which the sites selected under
paragraph (3) were first established as a national site.
``(B) Rate of issuance.--The quarter dollar coins bearing
designs of national sites under this subsection shall be issued
at the rate of 5 new designs during each year of the period of
issuance under this subsection.
``(C) Number of each of 5 coin designs in each year.--Of
the quarter dollar coins issued during each year of the period
of issuance, the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, on
the basis of such factors as the Secretary determines to be
appropriate, the number of quarter dollars which shall be
issued with each of the designs selected for such year.
``(5) Treatment as numismatic items.--For purposes of sections
5134 and 5136, all coins minted under this subsection shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
``(6) Issuance.--
``(A) Quality of coins.--The Secretary may mint and issue
such number of quarter dollars of each design selected under
paragraph (3) in uncirculated and proof qualities as the
Secretary determines to be appropriate.
``(B) Silver coins.--Notwithstanding subsection (b), the
Secretary may mint and issue such number of quarter dollars of
each design selected under paragraph (3) as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate, with a content of 90 percent
silver and 10 percent copper.
``(7) Period of issuance.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the program
established under this subsection shall continue in effect
until a national site in each State has been honored.
``(B) Second round at discretion of secretary.--
``(i) Determination.--The Secretary may make a
determination before the end of the 9-year period beginning
when the first quarter dollar is issued under this
subsection to continue the period of issuance until a
second national site in each State, the District of
Columbia, and each territory referred to in this subsection
has been honored with a design on a quarter dollar.
``(ii) Notice and report.--Within 30 days after making
a determination under clause (i), the Secretary shall
submit a written report on such determination to the
Committee on Financial Services of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs of the Senate.
``(iii) Applicability of provisions.--If the Secretary
makes a determination under clause (i), the provisions of
this subsection applicable to site and design selection and
approval, the order, timing, and conditions of issuance
shall apply in like manner as the initial issuance of
quarter dollars under this subsection, except that the
issuance of quarter dollars pursuant to such determination
bearing the first design shall commence in order
immediately following the last issuance of quarter dollars
under the first round.
``(iv) Continuation until all states are honored.--If
the Secretary makes a determination under clause (i), the
program under this subsection shall continue until a second
site in each State has been so honored.
``(8) Designs after end of program.--Upon the completion of the
coin program under this subsection, the design on--
``(A) the obverse of the quarter dollar shall revert to the
same design containing an image of President Washington in
effect for the quarter dollar before the institution of the 50-
State quarter dollar program; and
``(B) notwithstanding the fourth sentence of subsection
(d)(1), the reverse of the quarter dollar shall contain an
image of General Washington crossing the Delaware River prior
to the Battle of Trenton.
``(9) National site.--For purposes of this subsection, the term
`national site' means any site under the supervision, management,
or conservancy of the National Park Service, the United States
Forest Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or any
similar department or agency of the Federal Government, including
any national park, national monument, national battlefield,
national military park, national historical park, national historic
site, national lakeshore, seashore, recreation area, parkway,
scenic river, or trail and any site in the National Wildlife Refuge
System.
``(10) Application in event of independence.--If any territory
becomes independent or otherwise ceases to be a territory or
possession of the United States before quarter dollars bearing
designs which are emblematic of such territory are minted pursuant
to this subsection, this subsection shall cease to apply with
respect to such territory.''.
TITLE II--BULLION INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
SEC. 201. SILVER BULLION COIN.
Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by
inserting after subsection (t) (as added by title I of this Act) the
following new subsection:
``(u) Silver Bullion Investment Product.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall strike and make
available for sale such number of bullion coins as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate that are exact duplicates of the
quarter dollars issued under subsection (t), each of which shall--
``(A) have a diameter of 3.0 inches and weigh 5.0 ounces;
``(B) contain .999 fine silver;
``(C) have incused into the edge the fineness and weight of
the bullion coin;
``(D) bear an inscription of the denomination of such coin,
which shall be `quarter dollar'; and
``(E) not be minted or issued by the United States Mint as
so-called `fractional' bullion coins or in any size other than
the size described in paragraph (A).
``(2) Availability for sale.--Bullion coins minted under
paragraph (1)--
``(A) shall become available for sale no sooner than the
first day of the calendar year in which the circulating quarter
dollar of which such bullion coin is a duplicate is issued; and
``(B) may only be available for sale during the year in
which such circulating quarter dollar is issued.
``(3) Distribution.--
``(A) In general.--In addition to the authorized dealers
utilized by the Secretary in distributing bullion coins and
solely for purposes of distributing bullion coins issued under
this subsection, the Director of the National Park Service, or
the designee of the Director, may purchase numismatic items
issued under this subsection, but only in units of no fewer
than 1,000 at a time, and the Director, or the Director's
designee, may resell or repackage such numismatic items as the
Director determines to be appropriate.
``(B) Resale.--The Director of the National Park Service,
or the designee of the Director, may resell, at cost and
without repackaging, numismatic items acquired by the Director
or such designee under subparagraph (A) to any party affiliated
with any national site honored by a quarter dollar under
subsection (t) for repackaging and resale by such party in the
same manner and to the same extent as such party would be
authorized to engage in such activities under subparagraph (A)
if the party were acting as the designee of the Director under
such subparagraph.''.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.