[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4448 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4448

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration 
                of Native American history and culture.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 6, 1998

Mr. Brown  of California (for himself, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mr. Frost, 
    Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Pastor, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. 
  Blagojevich, Mr. Towns, Mr. Filner, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Hayworth, Mr. 
  Watkins, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Redmond, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Kildee, and Mr. 
   Kennedy of Rhode Island) introduced the following bill; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration 
                of Native American history and culture.

    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 ``Buffalo Coin Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. BUFFALO HALF DOLLAR.

    Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(n) Buffalo Half Dollar.--
            ``(1) Denominations.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law, the Secretary shall mint and issue each year not more 
        than 500,000 half dollar coins, minted in accordance with this 
        title.
            ``(2) Design requirements.--The design of the half dollar 
        coins minted under this subsection shall be based on the 
        original 5-cent buffalo nickel designed by James Earle Fraser 
        and minted from 1913 to 1938. Each coin shall have on the 
        obverse a profile representation of a Native American, and on 
        the reverse a representation of a buffalo.
            ``(3) Selection.--The design for the coins minted under 
        this subsection shall be--
                    ``(A) selected by the Secretary, after consultation 
                with the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                Affairs and the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 
                Senate and the Commission of Fine Arts; and
                    ``(B) reviewed by the Citizens Commemorative Coin 
                Advisory Committee.
            ``(4) Quality of coins.--Coins minted under this subsection 
        shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.
            ``(5) Period for issuance.--The Secretary may issue coins 
        minted under this subsection only during the period beginning 
        on January 1, 2001, and ending on December 31, 2001.
            ``(6) Sources of bullion.--The Secretary shall obtain 
        silver for minting coins under this subsection from sources 
        that the Secretary finds appropriate, including from stockpiles 
        established under the Strategic and Critical Materials 
        Stockpiling Act.
            ``(7) Mint facility.--Only 1 facility of the United States 
        Mint may be used to strike any particular quality of the coins 
        minted under this subsection.
            ``(8) Sale of coins.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The coins issued under this 
                subsection shall be sold by the Secretary at a price 
                equal to the sum of--
                            ``(i) the face value of the coins;
                            ``(ii) the surcharge provided in 
                        subparagraph (D) with respect to such coins; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) 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 subsection at a 
                reasonable discount.
                    ``(C) Prepaid orders.--The Secretary shall accept 
                prepaid orders for the coins minted under this 
                subsection before the issuance of such coins. Sale 
                prices with respect to prepaid orders shall be at a 
                reasonable discount.
                    ``(D) Surcharges.--All sales of coins minted under 
                this subsection shall include a surcharge of $3 per 
                coin.
            ``(9) Distribution of surcharges.--All surcharges received 
        by the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this 
        subsection shall be paid promptly by the Secretary to the 
        Numismatic Public Enterprise Fund established under section 
        5134. Proceeds from the sale of coins minted under this 
        subsection shall be made available to the National Museum of 
        the American Indian for the purposes of--
                    ``(A) commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 
                establishment of the Museum; and
                    ``(B) supplementing the endowment and educational 
                outreach funds of the Museum.''.
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