[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3956 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3956

To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe the weights and 
     the compositions of circulating coins, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 24, 2007

Mr. Space (for himself, Mr. Gutierrez, and Mr. Frank of Massachusetts) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe the weights and 
     the compositions of circulating coins, 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 ``Coin Modernization and Taxpayer 
Savings Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. WEIGHTS AND COMPOSITIONS OF CIRCULATING COINS.

    (a) Weight and Composition of Circulating Coins Determined by the 
Secretary.--Section 5112(c) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
    ``(c) Weight and Composition of Coins.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall prescribe the weight 
        and the composition of the dollar, half dollar, quarter dollar, 
        dime, 5-cent, and 1-cent coins.
            ``(2) Factors to be considered.--In prescribing the weight 
        and the composition of the dollar, half dollar, quarter dollar, 
        dime, 5-cent, and 1-cent coins, the Secretary shall consider--
                    ``(A) factors relevant to the acceptability of new 
                coinage materials, including the effect on vending 
                machines; and
                    ``(B) such other factors that the Secretary 
                considers, in the Secretary's sole discretion, to be 
                appropriate.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 5112(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 
        amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and weighs 
                11.34 grams'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and weighs 5.67 
                grams'';
                    (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and weighs 
                2.268 grams'';
                    (D) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and weighs 5 
                grams''; and
                    (E) by striking paragraph (6) and inserting the 
                following new paragraph:
            ``(6) A 1-cent coin that is 0.75 inch in diameter.''.
            (2) Section 5112(b) of title 31, United States Code, is 
        amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Specifications for $1 Coins and Gold Coins.--The $1 coin 
shall be golden in color, have a distinctive edge, have tactile and 
visual features that make the denomination of the coin readily 
discernible, be minted and fabricated in the United States, and have 
similar metallic, anti-counterfeiting properties as United States 
coinage in circulation on the date of enactment of the United States $1 
Coin Act of 1997. In minting gold coins, the Secretary shall use alloys 
that vary not more than 0.1 percent from the percent of gold required. 
The specifications for alloys are by weight.''.
            (3) Section 5113(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 
        amended--
                    (A) in the 1st sentence, by striking ``and dime 
                coins'' and inserting ``dime, 5-cent, and 1-cent 
                coins.''; and
                    (B) by striking the second and third sentences.

SEC. 3. SUSPENSION OF REGULATORY AUTHORITY.

    (a) In General.--The regulations prescribed by the Director of the 
United States Mint, pursuant to a delegation by the Secretary of the 
Treasury of the Secretary's authority under section 5111(d) of title 
31, United States Code, as published in final form in the Federal 
Register on April 16, 2007 (Vol. 72, No. 72, page 18880, et seq.), and 
codified as part 82 of chapter 1 of subtitle B of title 31, Code of 
Federal Regulations, shall cease to apply as of the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and shall have no force or effect after such 
date, with respect to 1-cent coins.
    (b) Suspension of Prospective Regulations.--The Secretary of the 
Treasury shall have no authority to prescribe any regulations under 
section 5111(d) of title 31, United States Code, that would limit or 
prohibit the export, melting, or treatment of the 1-cent coin during 
the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and 
ending on the date when the Secretary first issues a 1-cent coin with a 
different metallic content than the 1-cent coins issued as of such date 
of enactment.
    (c) No Effect on Other Coins.--No provision of this section shall 
be construed as affecting--
            (1) the applicability of the regulations referred to in 
        subsection (a) to coins other than the 1-cent coin; or
            (2) the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to 
        prescribe regulations under section 5111(d) of title 31, United 
        States Code, with respect to coins other than the 1-cent coin.
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