[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2778 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2778

 To prevent the overproduction of $1 presidential coins by the United 
    States Mint in order to efficiently meet collector demand while 
 reducing the surplus of already produced $1 coins in Federal Reserve 
                 System vaults, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2011

   Mr. Smith of Washington introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prevent the overproduction of $1 presidential coins by the United 
    States Mint in order to efficiently meet collector demand while 
 reducing the surplus of already produced $1 coins in Federal Reserve 
                 System vaults, 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 ``The Dollars and Sense Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The backlog of more than 1.2 billion coins in Federal 
        Reserve System vaults is highly concerning.
            (2) Overinflated demand for coin collecting purposes and 
        lack of transactional demand by the general public has led to 
        backlog of these coins.
            (3) Continued production of these coins will maintain 
        seigniorage and help pay down our national deficit.

SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF UNMIXED SUPPLIES REQUIREMENT DURING INTRODUCTORY 
              PERIOD.

    Section 5112(p)(3)(D) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 
by striking ``ensuring that--'' and all that follows through ``(ii) 
circulating coins'' and inserting ``ensuring that circulating coins''.

SEC. 4. REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF PRESIDENTS HONORED IN A YEAR FROM 4 
              TO 2.

    Section 5112(n)(4) of title 31, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by striking ``4'' and inserting ``2'';
            (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``4 Presidents'' and 
        inserting ``2 Presidents''; and
            (3) in the heading of subparagraph (B), by striking ``4'' 
        and inserting ``2''.

SEC. 5. POSTPONEMENT OF NATIVE AMERICAN $1 COIN ISSUANCE.

    Section 5112(r) of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                    (A) by striking ``beginning January 1, 2008'' and 
                inserting ``beginning on the termination of the 
                issuance of coins under subsection (n)''; and
                    (B) by striking ``in addition to the coins to be 
                issued pursuant to subsection (n),''; and
            (2) by striking paragraph (5).

SEC. 6. LIMITATION ON MINTING OF PRESIDENTIAL $1 COINS.

    Section 5112(n)(4)(B) of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting before the period the following: ``, 
        except that the aggregate number of all coins for circulation 
        issued under this subsection for any such year shall not exceed 
        the number of $1 coins sold only as numismatic items during the 
        previous calendar year''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following: ``If the Secretary 
        determines that the demand for a particular design during a 
        year will exceed the amount of coins able to be produced under 
        the limitation in the previous sentence, the Secretary may 
        waive such limitation with respect to such design.''.

SEC. 7. REFORM TO THE DIRECT SHIP PROGRAM.

    The Circulating $1 Coin Direct Ship Program of the United States 
Mint shall only be available to persons who are purchasing $1 coins for 
coin collection purposes.

SEC. 8. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

    Section 5112(p)(3) of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by adding ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``; and'' and 
        inserting a period; and
            (3) by striking subparagraph (F).

SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress--
            (1) that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
        System should do everything in its power to address the backlog 
        of $1 coins in its vaults by making them as accessible as 
        possible to the public for purposes of circulation; and
            (2) the United States Mint should continue the production 
        of Sacagawea coins for circulation purposes upon completion of 
        the Presidential $1 Coin Program.
                                 <all>