[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2641 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2641

 To recognize conservation efforts to restore the American bison from 
 extinction by placing the image of the American bison on the nickel, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2004

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To recognize conservation efforts to restore the American bison from 
 extinction by placing the image of the American bison on the nickel, 
                        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 ``Bison Nickel Restoration Act of 
2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the American bison is one of the most enduring symbols 
        of the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark;
            (2) Native Americans in the Great Plains States have held 
        the American bison as one of the most sacred animals, as it 
        represents a spiritual being supplying everything necessary to 
        survive;
            (3) the American bison continues to be a symbol of Western 
        States and the growth of the United States westward in the 19th 
        century;
            (4) the population of the American bison herd has been 
        restored from near extinction levels due to exceptional 
        conservation efforts;
            (5) the American bison herd, which once numbered 
        approximately 60,000,000 fell below 100 for free-range bison in 
        the early 1900s;
            (6) at the time, only 21 American bison were living in 
        Yellowstone National Park, and 8 in the National Zoo in 
        Washington, DC;
            (7) the conservation efforts to restore the American bison 
        officially began with the efforts of President Theodore 
        Roosevelt with the American Bison Society in 1905, the first 
        United States conservation effort to restore a single species 
        from extinction;
            (8) the centennial of the signing into law by President 
        Roosevelt of the creation of the National Bison Range in 
        Montana will take place on May 23, 2008; and
            (9) in 2004, the bison herd in North America is anticipated 
        to surpass 500,000, and the American Bison has been restored 
        and has become a viable commercial ranching enterprise for many 
        small- and medium-sized ranchers.

SEC. 3. BISON COIN AUTHORITY EXTENSION.

     Section 101 of the American 5-Cent Coin Design Continuity Act of 
2003 (31 U.S.C. note) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and 2005'' each place that term appears, 
        other than in subsection (b)(2), and inserting ``, 2005, and 
        2006''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)(2), by adding at the end the 
        following: ``If the Secretary of the Treasury elects to change 
        the reverse of the 5-cent coins issued during 2006, one of the 
        designs selected shall depict the image of an American bison as 
        part of such emblematic images.''.

SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF THE AMERICAN 5-CENT COIN DESIGN CONTINUITY ACT OF 
              2003.

    Section 5112(d)(1) of title 31, United States Code, is amended in 
the 5th sentence, by striking ``December 31, 2005'' and inserting 
``December 31, 2006''.
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