UPDATE (05/11/2008) -- Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savintg Act of 2008

Here is and update from the Thomas (Library of Congress)
on the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savintg Act of
2008, as of 05/11/08. Below is section "E" that I do not like.


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 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.
Passed the House of Representatives May 8, 2008.


Does this mean that other countries can make coins
for the United States?

I am agaist the ideal of other countries Minting Coins
for the United States Government.

Arizona Coin Collector



Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008
(Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House)

HR 5512 EH


110th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 5512

-------------------------------------------------------


AN ACT

To reduce the costs of producing 1-cent and 5-cent coins,
provide authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to
perform research and development on new metallic content
for circulating coins, and to require biennial reports to
Congress on circulating coin production costs and possible
alternative metallic content.


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 2008'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) International demand along with market speculation for
commodity metals has, over the past several years, increased
the cost of producing circulating coins in the United States.

(2) In a July 30, 2007, letter to the Congress, the Secretary
of the Treasury, with support of the Administration's Office
of Management and Budget, requested that legislation be put
forward to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make
changes to the composition of circulating coins.

(3) The United States Mint has studied alternative metals for
use in circulating coins, as noticed in its 2004 annual report.

(4) In 1943, the United States Mint produced zinc-coated steel
pennies in response to war-time demands for copper.

(5) The United States Mint gained further experience changing
the metal content of pennies in 1982, when it began producing
copper-coated zinc pennies as a result of rising copper prices.

(6) The Royal Canadian Mint has produced for several years a
copper-coated steel 1-cent coin that is similar to the United
States penny at a significantly lower cost than the cost to
produce the United States penny.

(7) Given the current cost to make a penny and volume of
pennies minted, by simply reducing penny production costs to
face value, the United States will save more than $500,000,000
in the next 10 years alone.

(8) Reducing the cost to produce a nickel to face value will
save the United States an additional $60,000,000 per year.

(9) Commodity metal prices are often cyclical in nature, and
can be inflated by speculation, so it is important that a
solid trend in the rising price of a commodity metal be
established before any change in the metal content of a
coin is made.

SEC. 3. IMMEDIATE REDUCTION IN THE COST OF PRODUCING 1-CENT
COINS THROUGH THE USE OF STEEL PENNIES.

Subsection (c) of section 5112 of title 31, United States
Code, is amended to read as follows:

`(c) Composition of 1-Cent and 5-Cent Coins-

`(1) 1-cent COIN -

`(A) IN GENERAL- Subject to paragraph (2), beginning 270
days after the date of the enactment of the Coin
Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008, the 1-cent
coin shall--

`(i) be produced primarily of steel; and

`(ii) meet such other specifications as the Secretary may
determine to be appropriate, including any change in the
weight from that specified in subsection (a)(6).

`(B) TREATMENT- The 1-cent coin shall be treated to impart
a copper color to the appearance of the coins so that the
appearance is similar to 1-cent coins produced of a
copper-zinc alloy.

`(C) EXCEPTION FOR LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL NUMISMATIC
PENNIES- No provision of this paragraph shall apply with
respect to 1-cent coins described in section 304 of the
Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 that are issued for
numismatic purposes.

`(2) ALTERNATIVE 1-CENT COIN COMPOSITION-

`(A) IN GENERAL- If, before the end of the 90-day period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the Coin
Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008, the
Secretary determines that, with the addition of any other
element to any alloy of zinc and copper of which 1-cent
coins could have been composed as of the day before such
date of enactment, there is a way--

`(i) to produce 1-cent coins of the same diameter, general
composition, and general weight as 1-cent coins produced
in accordance with this subsection as of the day before
such date of enactment; and

`(ii) to achieve the goals of paragraph (1) by reducing
the unit cost to produce the 1-cent coin to less than
1 cent while retaining such coin's ease of use and
ensuring ease of co-circulation with 1-cent coins of the
diameter and weight already circulating as of such date
of enactment for ordinary commerce,

the Secretary may add any such element and continue
production of 1-cent coins of the same diameter, general
composition, and general weight as 1-cent coins produced
in accordance with this subsection as of the day before
such date of enactment instead of complying with
paragraph (1).

`(B) EFFECTIVE PERIOD- This paragraph shall only apply
if the change to the new composition and the subsequent
drop in the production cost of the 1-cent coin referred
to in subparagraph (A) can be achieved before the end of
the 270-day period referred to in paragraph (1).

`(C) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS- Any determination and action
by the Secretary under subparagraph (A) shall be promptly
reported to the Congress.'.

SEC. 4. AUTHORITY TO CHANGE METALLIC CONTENT
OF 5-CENT COINS TO LESS COSTLY ALTERNATIVE.

(a) In General- Subsection (c) of section 5112 of title
31, United States Code, (as amended by section 3) is
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(3) 5-cent COIN -

`(A) IN GENERAL- After the end of the 2-year period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the Coin
Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008, the
Secretary shall produce no 5-cent coin that is not
primarily made of steel with a coating of nickel, that
can co-circulate with the existing supply of 5-cent
coins and work interchangeably in coin handling machines,
except that--

`(i) the Secretary shall make no change to the content
of the existing 5-cent coin if at that point the
unit cost of production of such coins is lower than
the face value of the coin ; and

`(ii) if the report issued by the Secretary pursuant
to section 6 indicates that a different metallic
content of circulating 5-cent coins is both functional
and interchangeable, and more economical to produce in
both the short and long term, the Secretary shall
propose such content to the Congress in the form of a
legislative recommendation.

`(B) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED- In prescribing the weight
and the composition of the 5-cent coin , the Secretary
shall consider--

`(i) factors relevant to the potential impact of any
revisions to the weight and composition of the material
on the current coin suppliers;

`(ii) factors relevant to the acceptability 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; and

`(iii) such other factors that the Secretary, in
consultation with merchants who would be affected by
any change in the weight and composition of the 5-cent
coin , 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.

`(C) COMMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS- In making any
determination with respect to any change in the
weight and composition of the 5-cent coin , the
Secretary shall enter into a formal rulemaking
process that includes a hearing on a record in
addition to the publication of notice and opportunity
for comment.'.

(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment- Section
5112(a)(5) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by striking `and weighs 5 grams'.

SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT ON ALL CIRCULATING COINS.

To accomplish the goals of this Act, the Secretary
may conduct any appropriate testing within or without
the Department of the Treasury, and may solicit input
from or otherwise work in conjunction with entities
within or without the Federal government including
independent research facilities or current or
potential suppliers of the 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 material
for such production.

SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON CURRENT
STATUS OF COIN PRODUCTION COSTS AND ANALYSIS
OF ALTERNATIVE CONTENT REQUIRED.

(a) Biennial Report Required- Before the end of
the 270-day period beginning on enactment of this
Act, and at 2-year intervals following the initial
report, 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, and possible new metallic
materials or technologies for the production of
circulating coins.

(b) Detailed Recommendations- The reports required
under this section shall contain 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- The reports
required under this section shall include
recommendations for changes in the methods of
producing coins at the United States Mint that
would further reduce the costs to produce
circulating coins, and include notes on any
legislative changes that might be necessary to
achieve such goals.

(d) Minimizing Conversion Costs- The reports
required under this section shall--

(1) include no recommendation for new specifications
for producing a circulating coin that would require
significant change to coin -accepting and coin
-handling equipment to accommodate changes to all
circulating coins simultaneously, except for any
potential change to the 5-cent coin as authorized
under section 4; and

(2) to the greatest extent possible, recommend
specifications that, while consistent with other
portions of this section and the amendments made
by this Act, require no changes to coin -accepting
or coin -handling equipment whatsoever to
accommodate both coins produced with the new
specifications and coins produced as of
July 31, 2007.

(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 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.
Passed the House of Representatives May 8, 2008.

Attest:

Clerk.


110th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 5512

AN ACT

To reduce the costs of producing 1-cent and 5-cent coins,
provide authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to
perform research and development on new metallic content
for circulating coins, and to require biennial reports
to Congress on circulating coin production costs and
possible alternative metallic content.

In article ,
says...
Here is and update from the Thomas (Library of Congress)
on the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savintg Act of
2008, as of 05/11/08. Below is section "E" that I do not like.


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 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.
Passed the House of Representatives May 8, 2008.



Does this mean that other countries can make coins
for the United States?

I am agaist the ideal of other countries Minting Coins
for the United States Government.


No. It means, "Don't make any new coins which are similar
(size/weight/composition) to cheaper foreign coins. Because that
would create a risk of people defrauding vending machines by
using the cheaper foreign coins instead of proper US coins."

Also, they are supposed to avoid making new coins that
coincidentally match common tokens, washers, etc.

It has nothing to do with outsourcing the production of US coins.


--
Get Credit Where Credit Is Due
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The way I read it, it just says that Congress will not consider any
proposed alloy that matches a foreign coin of lesser value. In other
words, so that a vending machine set to accept coins of the new
alloy(s) would not then be tricked into accepting foreign coins worth
less than the US piece. It says nothing about anything regarding the
contracting out of minting US coins.

In article , Arizona
Coin Collector wrote:

Here is and update from the Thomas (Library of Congress)
on the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savintg Act of
2008, as of 05/11/08. Below is section "E" that I do not like.


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 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.
Passed the House of Representatives May 8, 2008.


Does this mean that other countries can make coins
for the United States?

I am agaist the ideal of other countries Minting Coins
for the United States Government.

Arizona Coin Collector