[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1365 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1365

  To award a congressional gold medal on behalf of Cesar E. Chavez in 
               recognition of his service to the Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2005

    Mr. Baca (for himself, Mr. Becerra, Mr. Cardoza, Mr. Costa, Mr. 
 Cuellar, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. 
   Menendez, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Ortiz, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Reyes, Ms. 
  Roybal-Allard, Mr. Salazar, Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California, Ms. 
Linda T. Sanchez of California, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Solis, Ms. Velazquez, 
  Mr. Honda, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Berman, Mr. Al 
   Green of Texas, Ms. Lee, Ms. Waters, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Watson, Ms. 
 Millender-McDonald, Mr. Case, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Farr, Mr. Udall of New 
  Mexico, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Pallone, Mr. 
  Kind, Mr. George Miller of California, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of 
Texas, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, 
Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Weiner, Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California, Ms. Carson, 
     Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Snyder, Mrs. 
 Christensen, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. 
DeLauro, Mr. Owens, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Markey, Mr. Moore of Kansas, Ms. 
DeGette, Mr. McGovern, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Towns, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Rangel, 
 Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Meeks of New 
 York, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. McDermott, Mrs. McCarthy, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode 
  Island, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Hinchey, Ms. 
 Harman, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Wynn, 
    Mr. Kildee, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr. Frank of 
  Massachusetts, and Mr. Udall of Colorado) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To award a congressional gold medal on behalf of Cesar E. Chavez in 
               recognition of his service to the Nation.

    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 ``Cesar E. Chavez Congressional Gold 
Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Cesar E. Chavez was born March 31, 1927, on a small 
        farm near Yuma, Arizona, and died on April 23, 1993.
            (2) Numerous holidays, schools, parks, libraries, and other 
        structures and events have been named after Cesar E. Chavez, in 
        the United States and internationally, with many more planned.
            (3) Cesar E. Chavez was a recipient of the Martin Luther 
        King Jr. Peace Prize during his lifetime and was awarded the 
        Presidential Medal of Freedom on August 8, 1994.
            (4) Cesar E. Chavez was the grandson of a Mexican immigrant 
        and settler and grew up working with migrant farm workers, 
        picking grapes, melons, beans, and other crops at low wages and 
        for long hours, during which time he developed a strong work 
        ethic and respect for the farm workers his father called ``the 
        children of God''.
            (5) At the age of 18, Cesar E. Chavez entered the United 
        States Navy and served his country with distinction for 2 
        years.
            (6) As early as 1949, Cesar E. Chavez committed himself to 
        organizing farm workers to campaign for safe and fair working 
        conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing, and the outlawing 
        of child labor.
            (7) In 1962, Cesar E. Chavez founded the National Farm 
        Workers Association, predecessor of the United Farm Workers of 
        America, which brought hope to farm workers that they might one 
        day realize the basic protections and workers' rights to which 
        all Americans aspire.
            (8) Through his commitment to nonviolence, Cesar E. Chavez 
        brought dignity and respect to the farm workers who organized 
        themselves, and became an inspiration and a resource to other 
        Americans and people engaged in human rights struggles 
        throughout the world.
            (9) Cesar E. Chavez's fasts and strikes gained national 
        attention and made people aware of the struggle of farm workers 
        for better pay and safer working conditions.
            (10) Cesar E. Chavez was an advocate for nonviolence at a 
        time when violence penetrated every level of our society; he 
        used boycotts, pickets, strikes, and fasts to achieve his goals 
        and went to jail for refusing to stop his boycott against 
        lettuce growers.
            (11) Despite the killings and beatings of many workers, 
        Chavez never wavered in his commitment to nonviolence.
            (12) Cesar E. Chavez and his family also dedicated 
        themselves to the education of farm workers' children through 
        migrant schools, and many of these children graduated and 
        worked as teachers, doctors, or nurses or in other professional 
        occupations.
            (13) The legacy of Cesar E. Chavez includes healthy working 
        conditions that yield uncontaminated food for America's tables.
            (14) Cesar E. Chavez's influence extends far beyond 
        agriculture and provides inspiration for those working to 
        better human rights through his example of organizing voter 
        registration drives in urban and farm areas, initiating 
        complaints against mistreatment by police and welfare 
        officials, and empowering workers to seek advancement in 
        education and politics.
            (15) Cesar E. Chavez lived alongside his campesino brothers 
        and sisters in humble surroundings.
            (16) Upon his death in 1993, Cesar E. Chavez was laid to 
        rest where he lived and worked for 23 years on the grounds of 
        the headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America, known 
        as Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace), located in the 
        Tehachapi Mountains at Keene, California.
            (17) With faith, discipline, soft-spoken humility, and 
        amazing inner strength, Cesar E. Chavez led a very courageous 
        life.
            (18) Cesar E. Chavez' words will always ring true in our 
        country: Si se puede! Yes, we can!

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of the 
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to the next of kin or 
other personal representative of Cesar E. Chavez in recognition of his 
service to the Nation.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 
in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal 
with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by 
the Secretary.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

     The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, and at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.

SEC. 5. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

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

SEC. 6. FUNDING.

    (a) Authority to Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such an 
amount as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals 
authorized by this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 4 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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