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HomeUS CoinsOne Way or Another: New Legislation Seeks to Change America's Circulating Coinage

One Way or Another: New Legislation Seeks to Change America’s Circulating Coinage

Congressional Legislation About Coinage

Two recent Republican bills aim to save taxpayers money

By Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….
Two new pieces of legislation have been introduced (in one instance, reintroduced) to Congress that seek to alter the landscape of our nation’s circulating coinage.

COINS Act of 2017

Republican Senators John McCain (AZ) and Michael Enzi (WY) introduced the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings (COINS) Act of 2017 (S. 759) to the U.S. Senate on March 29. The bill seeks to spare the American taxpayer from further costs by streamlining the production of our nation’s money. Specifically, it hones in on three perennial hobgoblins of the fiscally minded: production of the penny, production of the nickel, and the United States’ reliance on paper $1 bills instead of $1 coins.

Suspension of Cent Production

To address the first issue, McCain and Enzi propose to end cent production for a period of 10 years as of the enactment of the bill. According to Tom Jurkowsky of the United States Mint, it cost the Mint 1.5 cents to produce a single one-cent coin in fiscal year 2016[1]. And since it is the belief of the bill’s sponsors that there are enough pennies in circulation to accommodate the public’s commercial needs, the bill purports that the annual production of more one-cent coins at such a financial loss would be unnecessary for the span of an entire decade.

Within three years of the bill’s enactment, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) would be required to review the effects of the suspension and report to the Budget Committees of both the House and Senate, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee about its results. The permanent elimination of the coin as a circulating denomination would be considered at this point. Interestingly, the bill’s text mentions the one-half cent denomination as an example of a coin that has been phased out of common use.

The suspension of production would not, however, mean the elimination of one-cent coins made for the numismatic collector’s market. It would not also revoke the penny’s legal tender status.

Changing the Nickel’s Composition

As for the nickel, it costs about eight cents to produce one five-cent coin[2].

To ameliorate this situation, McCain and Enzi seek to amend 31 U.S. Code § 5112 by adding a subsection that requires the Mint Director to alter the current specific portions of copper and nickel in the clad composition of the five-cent coin (the “nickel”) as long as the general ratio of 80% copper to %20 nickel still applies. Before this is done, however, the Mint must perform a study on such a change and analyze the results to determine the best course of action. The subsection does not apply if or when such changes as it mandates no longer save the taxpayer money or have negative effects on the vending machine industry, the public or other “stakeholders”.

Additionally, the Mint is authorized (but not required) to conduct and submit a further study on the benefits of increasing the copper content of the coin as long as, again, it saves taxpayers money and does not harm stakeholders. It is worth mentioning that Senator McCain’s home state of Arizona is one of the top copper producers in the United States and home to two of three U.S. copper smelting facilities[3].

Replacing the $1 Bill

Finally, S. 759 enshrines into the United States Code that the Federal Government prefers one-dollar coins be used instead of one-dollar Federal Reserve notes. Much like the changeover from silver coinage to clad in the early 1960s, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve would be required to guarantee that enough $1 coins were ready to replace their paper money counterparts and meet the economic demand of the public. Then, assuming that requirement is met, the Federal Reserve would stop releasing $1 notes into circulation no sooner than two years after the enactment date of this law. The $1 bills would also be removed from circulation as they returned to banks and destroyed.

According to a 2011 GAO study, the replacement of dollar bills with dollar coins would save an estimated $5.5 billion in costs over 30 years[4].

Once again, $1 Federal Reserve notes would still be printed for the numismatic market and all $1 bills would still be considered legal tender for as long as they remained in circulation. As of the time of publication, the COINS Act of 2017 has yet to leave the Senate Banking Committee headed by Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Cents and Sensibility

A little over a week later on Thursday, April 6, Representative Steve Stivers (R-OH15) introduced a similarly motivated bill–the 2017 Cents and Sensibility Act (H.R. 2067)–to the United States Congress that proposes to change the metal composition of the United States’ circulating coinage in order to lower the cost of manufacturing. Quoting the bill, the changes would take place “immediately”, presumably to circumvent possibly time-consuming research and development on the part of the Mint (a 90-day window will be in effect).

This time, Title 31, Section 5112 of the U.S. Code would be amended to specify that the penny, nickel, dime and quarter be made out of steel, and that the coins are to be treated in such a way that each new steel issue resembles the previous version of that specific denomination. How this is achieved is left up to the Mint, but presumably whatever method is chosen must not cost the taxpayer so much that production of the new steel coinage costs more than coin production costs at present.

Beyond that, the bill makes sure that the Mint doesn’t overburden the coin-accepting device industry (“stakeholders” – our quotes) and that tokens or foreign coins are not used as legal tender in lieu of changing the composition of American coinage. Collectible versions of circulating coinage produced after the 90-day transition window may be in either the new steel composition or in a metal composition similar to types issued before this bill was enacted, if it were to be so. A small amendment at the end of the Cents and Sensibility Act would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to reduce, increase or otherwise alter the weight of the one-cent coin in order to produce an appropriate number of pennies for circulation.

The bill currently sits with the House Financial Services committee, where it awaits consideration to be submitted to the House and Senate proper. Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX3) has served as the committee’s current chairman since 2013. At the time of writing, the bill has two cosponsors: representatives Betty Joyce (D-OH3) and Pat Tiberi (R-OH12).

Representative Stivers introduced previous versions of this bill in 2011, 2013 and 2015; none made it out of committee.

Legislative Updates

The widgets below will update as their respective bills progress through each step of the legislative process.

* * *

Notes

[1] https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/12/27/the-penny-cost-more-to-make-than-its-worth-again/

[2] http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/11/news/economy/u-s-coins/

[3] https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mineral-resources/copper-smelters.html

[4] http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11281.pdf

Sources

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s759

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr2067

http://codes.findlaw.com/us/title-31-money-and-finance/31-usc-sect-5112.html

https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A51EACC5-53BE-4A09-B1B3-0E7BF3954CB0

https://www.banking.senate.gov/public/
 

Hubert Walker
Hubert Walker
Hubert Walker has served as the Assistant Editor of CoinWeek.com since 2015. Along with co-author Charles Morgan, he has written for CoinWeek since 2012, as well as the monthly column "Market Whimsy" for The Numismatist and the book 100 Greatest Modern World Coins (2020) for Whitman Publishing.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Every other country that’s successfully eliminated its equivalent of the $1 bill also has a widely-circulating $2 denomination. The use of both denominations greatly simplifies change-making. I’ve visited a number of those countries and it’s rare to receive more than two high-denomination coins in change for amounts less than $5 – you get two $2 pieces, a $1 and a $2, etc. rather than four $1 coins.

    Absent a provision to either increase production of $2 bills or introduce a concomitant $2 coin, the COINS Act will run up against the naysayers’ standard objection to “a pocket full of dollar coins”, and we’ll continue waste hundreds of millions of dollars every year producing inefficient greenbacks.

  2. Ok. Perhaps I am missing something here. They are telling us that it cost more to print out a piece of paper than stamp out a piece of metal ? Perhaps we should look at less costly ways to print paper…. Secondly, I believe we are TOTALLY forgetting ( or are we forsaking ) the fact that we have already attempted to establish one dollar coins into circulation and have fallen on our face not once. but twice – the Sacagewea and Susan B Anthony one dollar coins. What makes us think a third attempt at one dollar coins will fly ? Besides this, the SBA dollar coin was constantly confused with our quarter dollar ( 25 ,cent coin ) and the SBA was simply hoarded. It would be just short of a magicians trick to reach into my pocket or yours and produce one of our past / current “”one dollar coins”. We seem to try things and then forget what we have done and continue to move forward with the same mistakes of our past. Also. let’s talk about our decrepit one cent coin or as it has been dubbed ” the penny”. In 1982 /3 thru to current year , we shifted our cents from a majority composition of copper to zinc. Has anyone stopped to look at these one cent pieces ??? They are TOTALLY disgusting ! If the thin copper coating isn’t peeling off they are rusting and or decaying at a remarkable pace beyond belief – and we continue to produce them. Not long after leaving the mint they are practically dissolving into an ugly mess. Take a look also at the good old 1943 ” steel” ( which is what they are saying that they may shift the current one cent coin to) and tell me if you want your newly minted coins to look like these 1943 steel cents ?? AGAIN, we are forgetting from whence we came ….. Folks, our coinage was always a proud part of our heritage of the United States of America, if you still agree with that ???, then we need to wake up and smell the coffee ! Also, if we must reinstitute a “one dollar” coin, why spend hundreds of thousands to make a new die, etc for a new dollar coin ??? Just continue with the Sacagewea or the Susan B Anthony that we already have ! One last thought, if this is going to save the tax payer so much money, who is going to realize the savings :-) :-) :-) ALL of this requires alot more thought than just passing one more bill of legislation at a round table meeting !!! In a lot of ways, what they are attempting to pass doesn’t make good cents.

    • We already have current dollar coins in circulation, the presidential dollars. Did you forget about those? Made on the same planchets as the Sacagawea dollars.

    • “They are telling us that it cost [sic] more to print out a piece of paper than stamp out a piece of metal…”
      You’re missing the point. The issue isn’t the up-front cost of printing a bill, it’s that the full lifecycle costs of a coin are much less than the cost of paper. Paper bills have to be replaced every few years while coins stay in circulation 30 to 50 years. Damaged and worn-out bills have to be disposed of; they can’t simply be burned because of the inks used in printing. Worn coins are simply melted down and recycled. Low-denomination bills force many otherwise simple devices like vending machines and fareboxes to include bill validators which adds to their expense. All of those costs add up across the economy which is (a) why every analysis shows significant savings for us taxpayers and (b) why over four dozen other countries took the same course to reduce costs.

      “the SBA dollar coin was constantly confused with our quarter dollar”
      The SBA dollar was a disaster of both design and implementation but it’s also ancient history like the half-dime. No one can rationally confuse the brass color of a Sac or Presidential dollar with a quarter any more than they confuse a cent with a dime. The Canadian Loonie is the same size and color as our so-called “golden” dollar, and those coins have circulated for 3 decades without confusion – are Canadians somehow more adaptable and discerning than we are? (Don’t answer, haha!)

      “Take a look also at the good old 1943 ” steel” ( which is what they are saying that they may shift the current one cent coin to) and tell me if you want your newly minted coins to look like these 1943 steel cents ?”
      Again, that is NOT what’s being said; the proposals involve making the coins with a steel core and plated outer layers. Minting technology has advanced a bit (/s) since 1943. In fact, the UK, the EU, and Canada have all been using steel-based compositions for various coins that have successfully circulated for many years. The technology – and public acceptance – is widespread and well-established.

      Simply saying high-denomination coins won’t work belies the experiences of hundreds of millions of people in dozens of other countries.

  3. I support elimination of the cent and dollar note. I would also support a composition change for the five cent coin only. All are logical proposals which means nothing will happen any time soon.

  4. I am happy for them discussing the dollar coin but everything else stinks. I love the cents and nickels how they are. I save both alloys of the cent as bullion as well as the nickel.

    I want them to keep spending what they do making the coins. The Republicans can cut something else out of the budget. Stop picking on the coinage to save well……..a few cents!

    I am really upset at any talk of doing away with the cent. Just because they don’t like it does not mean I don’t like them. I try to get them on purpose in my change!

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