[110th Congress Public Law 456]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[DOCID: f:publ456.110]
[[Page 5037]]
AMERICA'S BEAUTIFUL NATIONAL PARKS
QUARTER DOLLAR COIN ACT OF 2008
[[Page 122 STAT. 5038]]
Public Law 110-456
110th Congress
An Act
To provide for a program for circulating quarter dollar coins that are
emblematic of a national park or other national site in each State, the
District of Columbia, and each territory of the United States, and for
other purposes. <<NOTE: Dec. 23, 2008 - [H.R. 6184]>>
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: America's
Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008. 31 USC 5101
note.>>
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``America's Beautiful National Parks
Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008''.
TITLE I--NATIONAL SITE QUARTER DOLLARS
SEC. 101. <<NOTE: 31 USC 5112 note.>> FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Yellowstone National Park was established by an Act
signed by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, as the
Nation's first national park.
(2) The summer and autumn of 1890 saw the establishment of a
number of national sites:
(A) August 19: Chickamauga and Chattanooga
established as national military parks in Georgia and
Tennessee.
(B) August 30: Antietam established as a national
battlefield site in Maryland.
(C) September 25: Sequoia National Park established
in California.
(D) September 27: Rock Creek Park established in the
District of Columbia.
(E) October 1: General Grant National Park
established in California (and subsequently incorporated
in Kings Canyon National Park).
(F) October 1: Yosemite National Park established in
California.
(3) Theodore Roosevelt was this nation's 26th President and
is considered by many to be our ``Conservationist President''.
(4) As a frequent visitor to the West, Theodore Roosevelt
witnessed the virtual destruction of some big game species and
the overgrazing that destroyed the grasslands and with them the
habitats for small mammals and songbirds and conservation
increasingly became one of his major concerns.
[[Page 122 STAT. 5039]]
(5) When he became President in 1901, Roosevelt pursued this
interest in conservation by establishing the first 51 Bird
Reserves, 4 Game Preserves, and 150 National Forests.
(6) He also established the United States Forest Service,
signed into law the creation of 5 National Parks, and signed the
Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities in 1906 under
which he proclaimed 18 national monuments.
(7) Approximately 230,000,000 acres of area within the
United States was placed under public protection by Theodore
Roosevelt.
(8) Theodore Roosevelt said that nothing short of defending
this country in wartime ``compares in importance with the great
central task of leaving this land even a better land for our
descendants than it is for us''.
(9) The National Park Service was created by an Act signed
by President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916.
(10) The National Park System comprises 391 areas covering
more than 84,000,000 acres in every State (except Delaware), the
District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the
Virgin Islands.
(11) The sites or areas within the National Park System vary
widely in size and type from vast natural wilderness to
birthplaces of Presidents to world heritage archaeology sites to
an African burial ground memorial in Manhattan and include
national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks,
historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores,
recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House.
(12) In addition to the sites within the National Park
System, the United States has placed numerous other types of
sites under various forms of conservancy, such as the national
forests and sites within the National Wildlife Refuge System and
on the National Register of Historic Places.
SEC. 102. ISSUANCE OF REDESIGNED QUARTER DOLLARS EMBLEMATIC OF
NATIONAL PARKS OR OTHER NATIONAL SITES IN
EACH STATE, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND
EACH TERRITORY.
Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding
at the end the following new subsection:
``(t) Redesign and Issuance of Quarter Dollars Emblematic of
National Sites in Each State, the District of Columbia, and Each
Territory.--
``(1) Redesign beginning upon completion of prior program.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding the fourth
sentence of subsection (d)(1) and subsection (d)(2),
quarter dollars issued beginning in 2010 shall have
designs on the reverse selected in accordance with this
subsection which are emblematic of the national sites in
the States, the District of Columbia and the territories
of the United States.
``(B) Flexibility with regard to placement of
inscriptions.--Notwithstanding subsection (d)(1), the
Secretary may select a design for quarter dollars
referred to in subparagraph (A) in which--
[[Page 122 STAT. 5040]]
``(i) the inscription described in the second
sentence of subsection (d)(1) appears on the
reverse side of any such quarter dollars; and
``(ii) any inscription described in the third
sentence of subsection (d)(1) or the designation
of the value of the coin appears on the obverse
side of any such quarter dollars.
``(C) Inclusion of district of columbia, and
territories.--For purposes of this subsection, the term
`State' has the same meaning as in section 3(a)(3) of
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.
``(2) Single site in each state.--The design on the reverse
side of each quarter dollar issued during the period of issuance
under this subsection shall be emblematic of 1 national site in
each State.
``(3) Selection of site and design.--
``(A) Site.--
``(i) In general.--The selection of a national
park or other national site in each State to be
honored with a coin under this subsection shall be
made by the Secretary of the Treasury, after
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior
and the governor or other chief executive of each
State with respect to which a coin is to be issued
under this subsection, and after giving full and
thoughtful consideration to national sites that
are not under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of
the Interior so that the national site chosen for
each State shall be the most appropriate in terms
of natural or historic significance.
``(ii) Timing.--The selection process under
clause (i) shall be completed before the end of
the 270-day period beginning on the date of the
enactment of the America's Beautiful National
Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008.
``(B) Design.--Each of the designs required under
this subsection for quarter dollars shall be--
``(i) selected by the Secretary after
consultation with--
``(I) the Secretary of the Interior;
and
``(II) the Commission of Fine Arts;
and
``(ii) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage
Advisory Committee.
``(C) Selection and approval process.--
Recommendations for site selections and designs for
quarter dollars may be submitted in accordance with the
site and design selection and approval process developed
by the Secretary in the sole discretion of the
Secretary.
``(D) Participation in design.--The Secretary may
include participation by officials of the State, artists
from the State, engravers of the United States Mint, and
members of the general public.
``(E) Standards.--Because it is important that the
Nation's coinage and currency bear dignified designs of
which the citizens of the United States can be proud,
the Secretary shall not select any frivolous or
inappropriate design for any quarter dollar minted under
this subsection.
[[Page 122 STAT. 5041]]
``(F) Prohibition on certain representations.--No
head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person,
living or dead, no portrait of a living person, and no
outline or map of a State may be included in the design
on the reverse of any quarter dollar under this
subsection.
``(4) Issuance of coins.--
``(A) Order of issuance.--The quarter dollar coins
issued under this subsection bearing designs of national
sites shall be issued in the order in which the sites
selected under paragraph (3) were first established as a
national site.
``(B) Rate of issuance.--The quarter dollar coins
bearing designs of national sites under this subsection
shall be issued at the rate of 5 new designs during each
year of the period of issuance under this subsection.
``(C) Number of each of 5 coin designs in each
year.--Of the quarter dollar coins issued during each
year of the period of issuance, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall prescribe, on the basis of such factors
as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, the
number of quarter dollars which shall be issued with
each of the designs selected for such year.
``(5) Treatment as numismatic items.--For purposes of
sections 5134 and 5136, all coins minted under this subsection
shall be considered to be numismatic items.
``(6) Issuance.--
``(A) Quality of coins.--The Secretary may mint and
issue such number of quarter dollars of each design
selected under paragraph (3) in uncirculated and proof
qualities as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
``(B) Silver coins.--Notwithstanding subsection (b),
the Secretary may mint and issue such number of quarter
dollars of each design selected under paragraph (3) as
the Secretary determines to be appropriate, with a
content of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper.
``(7) Period of issuance.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the
program established under this subsection shall continue
in effect until a national site in each State has been
honored.
``(B) Second round at discretion of secretary.--
``(i) Determination.--The Secretary may make a
determination before the end of the 9-year period
beginning when the first quarter dollar is issued
under this subsection to continue the period of
issuance until a second national site in each
State, the District of Columbia, and each
territory referred to in this subsection has been
honored with a design on a quarter dollar.
``(ii) Notice and report.--Within 30 days
after making a determination under clause (i), the
Secretary shall submit a written report on such
determination to the Committee on Financial
Services of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
of the Senate.
``(iii) Applicability of provisions.--If the
Secretary makes a determination under clause (i),
the provisions of this subsection applicable to
site and
[[Page 122 STAT. 5042]]
design selection and approval, the order, timing,
and conditions of issuance shall apply in like
manner as the initial issuance of quarter dollars
under this subsection, except that the issuance of
quarter dollars pursuant to such determination
bearing the first design shall commence in order
immediately following the last issuance of quarter
dollars under the first round.
``(iv) Continuation until all states are
honored.--If the Secretary makes a determination
under clause (i), the program under this
subsection shall continue until a second site in
each State has been so honored.
``(8) Designs after end of program.--Upon the completion of
the coin program under this subsection, the design on--
``(A) the obverse of the quarter dollar shall revert
to the same design containing an image of President
Washington in effect for the quarter dollar before the
institution of the 50-State quarter dollar program; and
``(B) notwithstanding the fourth sentence of
subsection (d)(1), the reverse of the quarter dollar
shall contain an image of General Washington crossing
the Delaware River prior to the Battle of Trenton.
``(9) National site.--For purposes of this subsection, the
term `national site' means any site under the supervision,
management, or conservancy of the National Park Service, the
United States Forest Service, the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, or any similar department or agency of the
Federal Government, including any national park, national
monument, national battlefield, national military park, national
historical park, national historic site, national lakeshore,
seashore, recreation area, parkway, scenic river, or trail and
any site in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
``(10) Application in event of independence.--If any
territory becomes independent or otherwise ceases to be a
territory or possession of the United States before quarter
dollars bearing designs which are emblematic of such territory
are minted pursuant to this subsection, this subsection shall
cease to apply with respect to such territory.''.
TITLE II--BULLION INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
SEC. 201. SILVER BULLION COIN.
Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by
inserting after subsection (t) (as added by title I of this Act) the
following new subsection:
``(u) Silver Bullion Investment Product.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall strike and make
available for sale such number of bullion coins as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate that are exact duplicates of the
quarter dollars issued under subsection (t), each of which
shall--
``(A) have a diameter of 3.0 inches and weigh 5.0
ounces;
``(B) contain .999 fine silver;
[[Page 122 STAT. 5043]]
``(C) have incused into the edge the fineness and
weight of the bullion coin;
``(D) bear an inscription of the denomination of
such coin, which shall be `quarter dollar'; and
``(E) not be minted or issued by the United States
Mint as so-called `fractional' bullion coins or in any
size other than the size described in paragraph (A).
``(2) Availability for sale.--Bullion coins minted under
paragraph (1)--
``(A) shall become available for sale no sooner than
the first day of the calendar year in which the
circulating quarter dollar of which such bullion coin is
a duplicate is issued; and
``(B) may only be available for sale during the year
in which such circulating quarter dollar is issued.
``(3) Distribution.--
``(A) In general.--In addition to the authorized
dealers utilized by the Secretary in distributing
bullion coins and solely for purposes of distributing
bullion coins issued under this subsection, the Director
of the National Park Service, or the designee of the
Director, may purchase numismatic items issued under
this subsection, but only in units of no fewer than
1,000 at a time, and the Director, or the Director's
designee, may resell or repackage such numismatic items
as the Director determines to be appropriate.
``(B) Resale.--The Director of the National Park
Service, or the designee of the Director, may resell, at
cost and without repackaging, numismatic items acquired
by the Director or such designee under subparagraph (A)
to any party affiliated with any national site honored
by a quarter dollar under subsection (t) for repackaging
and resale by such party in the same manner and to the
same extent as such party would be authorized to engage
in such activities under subparagraph (A) if the party
were acting as the designee of the Director under such
subparagraph.''.
Approved December 23, 2008.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 6184:
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 110-748 (Comm. on Financial Services).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 154 (2008):
July 9, considered and passed House.
Dec. 10, considered and passed Senate.
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