[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 6184 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 6184
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 10 (legislative day, July 9), 2008
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
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.''.
Passed the House of Representatives July 9, 2008.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.