[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1476 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1476

   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
Congress to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and 
 his widow Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to 
           the Nation on behalf of the civil rights movement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 1, 2001

Mr. Cleland (for himself and Mr. Miller) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
Congress to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and 
 his widow Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to 
           the Nation on behalf of the civil rights movement.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and his widow 
        Coretta Scott King, as the first family of the civil rights 
        movement, have distinguished records of public service to the 
        American people and the international community;
            (2) Dr. King preached a doctrine of nonviolent civil 
        disobedience to combat segregation, discrimination, and racial 
        injustice;
            (3) Dr. King led the Montgomery bus boycott for 381 days to 
        protest the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks and the segregation of 
        the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama;
            (4) in 1963, Dr. King led the march on Washington, D.C., 
        that was followed by his famous address, the ``I Have a Dream'' 
        speech;
            (5) through his work and reliance on nonviolent protest, 
        Dr. King was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights 
        Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
            (6) despite efforts to derail his mission, Dr. King acted 
        on his dream of America and succeeded in making the United 
        States a better place;
            (7) Dr. King was assassinated for his beliefs on April 4, 
        1968, in Memphis, Tennessee;
            (8) Mrs. King stepped into the civil rights movement in 
        1955 during the Montgomery bus boycott, and played an important 
        role as a leading participant in the American civil rights 
        movement;
            (9) while raising 4 children, Mrs. King devoted herself to 
        working alongside her husband for nonviolent social change and 
        full civil rights for African Americans;
            (10) with a strong educational background in music, Mrs. 
        King established and performed several Freedom Concerts, which 
        were well received, and which combined prose and poetry 
        narration with musical selections to increase awareness and 
        understanding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference 
        (of which Dr. King served as the first president);
            (11) Mrs. King demonstrated composure in deep sorrow, as 
        she led the Nation in mourning her husband after his brutal 
        assassination;
            (12) after the assassination, Mrs. King devoted all of her 
        time and energy to developing and building the Atlanta-based 
        Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change 
        (hereafter referred to as the ``Center'') as an enduring 
        memorial to her husband's life and his dream of nonviolent 
        social change and full civil rights for all Americans;
            (13) under Mrs. King's guidance and direction, the Center 
        has flourished;
            (14) the Center was the first institution built in honor of 
        an African American leader;
            (15) the Center provides local, national, and international 
        programs that have trained tens of thousands of people in Dr. 
        King's philosophy and methods, and boasts the largest archive 
        of the civil rights movement; and
            (16) Mrs. King led the massive campaign to establish Dr. 
        King's birthday as a national holiday, and the holiday is now 
        celebrated in more than 100 countries.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized to 
present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design 
to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and his widow 
Coretta Scott King, in recognition of their service to the Nation.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentations 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, 
to be determined by the Secretary.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary of the Treasury shall strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2, under such 
regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to 
cover the costs of the duplicate medals and the gold medal (including 
labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses).

SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

    The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes 
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 5. FUNDING AND PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authorization.--There is authorized to be charged against the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to exceed 
$30,000 to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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