[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6162 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6162

 To provide research and development authority for alternative coinage 
  materials to the Secretary of the Treasury, increase congressional 
 oversight over coin production, and ensure the continuity of certain 
                           numismatic items.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 22, 2010

   Mr. Watt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide research and development authority for alternative coinage 
  materials to the Secretary of the Treasury, increase congressional 
 oversight over coin production, and ensure the continuity of certain 
                           numismatic items.

    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, Oversight, and 
Continuity Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON ALL 
              CIRCULATING COINS.

    (a) In General.--To accomplish the goals of this Act and the 
requirements of subchapter II of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code, the Secretary of the Treasury may--
            (1) conduct any appropriate testing of appropriate coinage 
        metallic materials within or outside of the Department of the 
        Treasury; and
            (2) solicit input from or otherwise work in conjunction 
        with entities within or outside of the Federal Government 
        including independent research facilities or current or 
        potential suppliers of the metallic material used in volume 
        production of circulating coins,
to complete the report referred to in this Act and to develop, evaluate 
or begin the use of new metallic materials for such production.
    (b) Factors To Be Considered.--In the conduct of research, 
development, and the solicitation of input or work in conjunction with 
entities within and outside the Federal Government, and in reporting to 
the Congress with recommendations, as required by this Act, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall consider the following:
            (1) Factors relevant to the potential impact of any 
        revisions to the composition of the material used in coin 
        production on the current coinage material suppliers.
            (2) Factors relevant to the ease of use and ability to co-
        circulate of new coinage materials, including the effect on 
        vending machines and commercial coin processing equipment and 
        making certain, to the greatest extent practicable, that any 
        new coins work without interruption in existing coin acceptance 
        equipment without modification.
            (3) Such other factors that the Secretary of the Treasury, 
        in consultation with merchants who would be affected by any 
        change in the composition of circulating coins, vending machine 
        and other coin acceptor manufacturers, vending machine owners 
        and operators, transit officials, municipal parking officials, 
        depository institutions, coin and currency handlers, armored-
        car operators, car wash operators, and American-owned 
        manufacturers of commercial coin processing equipment, 
        considers to be appropriate and in the public interest, after 
        notice and opportunity for comment.

SEC. 3. BIENNIAL REPORT TO THE CONGRESS ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF COIN 
              PRODUCTION COSTS AND ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE CONTENT.

    (a) Report Required.--Before the end of the 2-year period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this Act, and at 2-year intervals 
following the end of such period, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
submit a report to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs of the Senate analyzing production costs for each circulating 
coin, cost trends for such production, and possible new metallic 
materials or technologies for the production of circulating coins.
    (b) Detailed Recommendations.--In preparing and submitting the 
reports required under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 
shall include detailed recommendations for any appropriate changes to 
the metallic content of circulating coins in such a form that the 
recommendations could be enacted into law as appropriate.
    (c)  Improved Production Efficiency.--In preparing and submitting 
the reports required under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall include recommendations for changes in the methods of 
producing coins that would further reduce the costs to produce 
circulating coins, and include notes on the legislative changes that 
are necessary to achieve such goals.
    (d) Minimizing Conversion Costs.--In preparing and submitting the 
reports required under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury, 
to the greatest extent possible, may not include any recommendation for 
new specifications for producing a circulating coin that would require 
any significant change to coin-accepting and coin-handling equipment to 
accommodate changes to all circulating coins simultaneously.
    (e) Fraud Prevention.--The reports required under this section 
shall make no recommendation for a specification change that would 
facilitate or allow the use of a coin with a lesser value produced, 
minted, or issued by another country, or the use of any token or other 
easily or regularly produced metal device of minimal value, in the 
place of a circulating coin produced by the Secretary.
    (f) Rule of Construction.--No provision of this Act shall be 
construed as requiring that additional research and development be 
conducted for any report under this Act but any such report shall 
include information on any such research and development during the 
period covered by the report.

SEC. 4. MEETING DEMAND FOR SILVER NUMISMATIC ITEMS.

    Section 5112(e) of title 31, United States Code is amended by 
striking ``quantities'' and inserting ``qualities and quantities that 
the Secretary determines are''.

SEC. 5. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

    Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code is amended--
            (1) in subsection (e), by inserting ``qualities and'' 
        before ``quantities'';
            (2) in subsection (i)(1), by inserting ``qualities and'' 
        before ``quantities''; and
            (3) in subsection (u)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``exact duplicates'' and inserting 
                ``likenesses'';
                    (B) by striking subparagraph (C);
                    (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as 
                subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively; and
                    (D) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``of 3.0 
                inches'' and inserting ``determined by the Secretary 
                that is no less than 2.5 inches and no greater than 3.0 
                inches''.
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