[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2872 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.2872
One Hundred Ninth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and six
An Act
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration
of Louis Braille.
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 ``Louis Braille Bicentennial--Braille
Literacy Commemorative Coin Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Louis Braille, who invented the Braille method for reading
and writing by the blind that has allowed millions of blind people
to be literate participants in their societies, was born in
Coupvray, a small village near Paris, on January 4, 1809.
(2) Braille lost his sight at the age of three after injuring
himself with an awl in the shop of his father Rene, a maker of
harnesses and other objects of leather.
(3) A youth who was both intelligent and creative and was
blessed with dedicated parents, a thoughtful local priest and an
energetic local schoolteacher, Braille adapted to the situation and
attended local school with other youths of his age, an unheard-of
practice for a blind child of the period.
(4) At the age of 10, when his schooling otherwise would have
stopped, Braille--with the aid of the priest and schoolteacher--was
given a scholarship by a local nobleman and went to Paris to attend
the Royal Institute for Blind Children where he became the youngest
pupil.
(5) At the school, most instruction was oral but Braille found
there were books for the blind--large, expensive-to-produce books
in which the text was of large letters embossed upon the page.
(6) Soon Braille had read all 14 books in the school, but
thirsted for more.
(7) A captain in Napoleon's army, Charles Barbier de la Serre,
had invented ``night writing'', a method for communicating on the
battlefield amidst the thick smoke of combat or at night without
lighting a match--which would aid enemy gunners--that used dots and
dashes that were felt and interpreted with the fingers, and later
adapted the method for use by the blind, calling it Sonography
because it represented words by sounds, rather than spelling.
(8) Braille adopted the Sonography method instantly but soon
recognized that the basis in sound and the large number of dots--as
many as 12--used to represent words was too cumbersome.
(9) By the age of 15, and using a blunt awl, the same sort of
tool that had blinded him, Braille had developed what is
essentially modern Braille, a code that uses no more than 6 dots in
a ``cell'' of 2 columns of 3 dots each to represent each letter and
contains a system of punctuation and of ``contractions'' to speed
writing and reading.
(10) In contrast to the bulky books consisting of large
embossed letters, Braille books can contain as many as 1000
characters or contractions on a standard 11-by-12-inch page of
heavy paper, and to this day Braille can be punched with an awl-
like ``stylus'' into paper held in a metal ``slate'' that is very
similar to the ones that Louis Braille adapted from Barbier's
original ``night writing'' devices.
(11) Also a talented organist who supported himself by giving
concerts, Braille went on to develop the Braille representation of
music and in 1829 published the first-ever Braille book, a manual
about how to read and write music.
(12) 8 years later, in 1837, Braille followed that publication
with another book detailing a system of representation of
mathematics.
(13) Braille's talents were quickly recognized, and at 17 he
was made the first blind apprentice teacher at the school, where he
taught algebra, grammar, music, and geography.
(14) He and two blind classmates, his friends who probably were
the first people to learn to read and write Braille, later became
the first three blind full professors at the school.
(15) However, despite the fact that many blind people
enthusiastically adopted the system of writing and reading, there
was great skepticism among sighted people about the real usefulness
of Braille's code, and even at the Royal Institute, it was not
taught until after his death on January 6, 1852.
(16) Braille did not start to spread widely until 1868 when a
group of British men--later to become known as the Royal National
Institute for the Blind--began publicizing and teaching the system.
(17) Braille did not become the official and sole method of
reading and writing for blind United States citizens until the 20th
Century.
(18) Helen Keller, a Braille reader of another generation,
said: ``Braille has been a most precious aid to me in many ways. It
made my going to college possible--it was the only method by which
I could take notes on lectures. All my examination papers were
copied for me in this system. I use Braille as a spider uses its
web--to catch thoughts that flit across my mind for speeches,
messages and manuscripts.''.
(19) While rapid technological advances in the 20th Century
have greatly aided the blind in many ways by speeding access to
information, each advance has seen a commensurate drop in the
teaching of Braille, to the point that only about 10 percent of
blind students today are taught the system.
(20) However, for the blind not to know Braille is in itself a
handicap, because literacy is the ability to read and the ability
to write and the ability to do the two interactively.
(21) The National Federation of the Blind, the Nation's oldest
membership organization consisting of blind members, has been a
champion of the Braille code, of Braille literacy for all blind
people and of the memory of Louis Braille, and continues its
Braille literacy efforts today through its divisions emphasizing
Braille literacy, emphasizing education of blind children and
emphasizing employment of the blind.
(22) Braille literacy aids the blind in taking responsible and
self-sufficient roles in society, such as employment: while 70
percent of the blind are unemployed, 85 percent of the employed
blind are Braille-literate.
SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall mint and issue not more
than 400,000 $1 coins bearing the designs specified in section 4(a),
each of which shall--
(1) weigh 26.73 grams;
(2) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and
(3) contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper.
(b) Legal Tender.--The coins minted under this Act shall be legal
tender, as provided in section 5103 of title 31, United States Code.
(c) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31,
United States Code, all coins minted under this Act shall be considered
to be numismatic items.
SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS.
(a) Design Requirements.--
(1) In general.--The design of the coins minted under this Act
shall be emblematic of the life and legacy of Louis Braille.
(2) Obverse.--The design on the obverse shall bear a
representation of the image of Louis Braille.
(3) Reverse.--The design on the reverse shall emphasize Braille
literacy and shall specifically include the word for Braille in
Braille code (the Braille capital sign and the letters Brl)
represented in a way that substantially complies with section 3 of
Specification 800 of the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress specifications
for Braille, and is tactilely indiscernible from printed or written
Braille.
(4) Designation and inscriptions.--On each coin minted under
this Act there shall be--
(A) a designation of the value of the coin;
(B) an inscription of the year ``2009''; and
(C) inscriptions of the words ``Liberty'', ``In God We
Trust'', ``United States of America'', and ``E Pluribus Unum''.
(b) Selection.--The design for the coins minted under this Act
shall be--
(1) selected by the Secretary after consultation with the
Commission of Fine Arts and the National Federation of the Blind;
and
(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS.
(a) Quality of Coins.--Coins minted under this Act shall be issued
in uncirculated and proof qualities.
(b) Mint Facility.--Only 1 facility of the United States Mint may
be used to strike any particular quality of the coins minted under this
Act.
(c) Period for Issuance.--The Secretary may issue coins minted
under this Act only during the 1-year period beginning on January 1,
2009.
SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS.
(a) Sale Price.--The coins issued under this Act shall be sold by
the Secretary at a price equal to the sum of--
(1) the face value of the coins;
(2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with respect to such
coins; and
(3) 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 Act at a reasonable discount.
(c) Prepaid Orders.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall accept prepaid orders for
the coins minted under this Act before the issuance of such coins.
(2) Discount.--Sale prices with respect to prepaid orders under
paragraph (1) shall be at a reasonable discount.
SEC. 7. SURCHARGES.
(a) Surcharge Required.--All sales of coins under this Act shall
include a surcharge of $10 per coin.
(b) Distribution.--Subject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United
States Code, all surcharges which are received by the Secretary from
the sale of coins issued under this Act shall be promptly paid by the
Secretary to the National Federation of the Blind to further its
programs to promote Braille literacy.
(c) Audits.--The National Federation of the Blind shall be subject
to the audit requirements of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United
States Code, with regard to the amounts received by the National
Federation under subsection (b).
(d) Limitation.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge may
be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of any coin
during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance, the
issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemorative coin
programs issued during such year to exceed the annual 2 commemorative
coin program issuance limitation under section 5112(m)(1) of title 31,
United States Code (as in effect on the date of the enactment of this
Act). The Secretary of the Treasury may issue guidance to carry out
this subsection.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.