I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1546
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in recognition of
the bicentennial of the Erie Canal.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY24, 2025
Ms. T
ENNEYintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins
in recognition of the bicentennial of the Erie Canal.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Erie Canal Bicenten-4
nial Commemorative Coin Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
The Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Built between 1817 and 1825, the original 8
Erie Canal traversed 363 miles from Albany to Buf-9
falo. 10
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(2) The Erie Canal was the longest artificial 1
waterway and the greatest public works project in 2
North America. 3
(3) The Erie Canal was one of the most impor-4
tant steps in the United States initiating its indus-5
trial revolution, rapidly increasing the productivity 6
of agriculture and the spread of machinery and 7
manufactured goods. 8
(4) The Erie Canal cut the travel time between 9
Albany and Buffalo in half and reduced freight rates 10
by 90 percent. This allowed midwestern farmers and 11
industry to have new access to distant markets. 12
(5) The Erie Canal opened up the American in-13
terior for settlement and enabled a new flow of peo-14
ple and ideas. This fueled social reform movements 15
such as abolitionism, women’s suffrage, utopian 16
communities, and multiple religious movements 17
along the canal corridor. 18
(6) The Erie Canal continues to define the ge-19
ography of upstate New York with 80 percent of the 20
upstate New York population living withing 25 miles 21
of the corridor. 22
(7) After 200 years the Erie Canal is still a re-23
source for its local communities as a close to home 24
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recreational destination for boaters, bikers, and 1
walkers. 2
SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 3
(a) D
ENOMINATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treas-4
ury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 5
shall mint and issue the following coin: 6
(1) $5
GOLD COINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5 7
coins, which shall— 8
(A) weigh 8.359 grams; 9
(B) have a diameter of 0.850 inches; and 10
(C) contain not less than 90 percent gold. 11
(2) $1
SILVER COINS.—Not more than 400,000 12
$1 coins, which shall— 13
(A) weigh 26.73 grams; 14
(B) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and 15
(C) contain not less than 90 percent silver. 16
(3) H
ALF-DOLLAR CLAD COINS .—Not more 17
than 750,000 half-dollar coins which shall— 18
(A) weigh 11.34 grams; 19
(B) have a diameter of 1.205 inches; and 20
(C) be minted to the specifications for half- 21
dollar coins contained in section 5112(b) of title 22
31, United States Code. 23
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(b) LEGALTENDER.—The coins minted under this 1
Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of 2
title 31, United States Code. 3
(c) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 4
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins 5
minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis-6
matic items. 7
SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 8
(a) D
ESIGNREQUIREMENTS.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The designs of the coins 10
minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the 11
Erie Canal and its impact on the development of the 12
United States and New York State. 13
(2) D
ESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS .—On 14
each coin minted under this Act there shall be— 15
(A) a designation of the value of the coin; 16
(B) an inscription of the year ‘‘2026’’; and 17
(C) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, 18
‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer-19
ica’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 20
(b) S
ELECTION.—The design for the coins minted 21
under this Act shall be— 22
(1) selected by the Secretary after consultation 23
with— 24
(A) the Commission of Fine Arts; and 25
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(B) Erie Canalway Heritage Fund, Inc.; 1
and 2
(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory 3
Committee. 4
SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS. 5
(a) Q
UALITY OFCOINS.—Coins minted under this 6
Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 7
(b) P
ERIOD FORISSUANCE.—The Secretary may 8
issue coins minted under this Act only during the 1-year 9
period beginning on January 1, 2026. 10
SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 11
(a) S
ALEPRICE.—The coins issued under this Act 12
shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum 13
of— 14
(1) the face value of the coins; 15
(2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with 16
respect to such coins; and 17
(3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins 18
(including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, 19
overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping). 20
(b) B
ULKSALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk 21
sales of the coins issued under this Act at a reasonable 22
discount. 23
(c) P
REPAIDORDERS.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept 1
prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act 2
before the issuance of such coins. 3
(2) D
ISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre-4
paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea-5
sonable discount. 6
SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—All sales of coins issued under this 8
Act shall include a surcharge of— 9
(1) $35 per coin for the $5 coin; 10
(2) $10 per coin for the $1 coin; and 11
(3) $5 per coin for the half-dollar coin. 12
(b) D
ISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of 13
title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by 14
the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this Act 15
shall be promptly paid by the Secretary to the Erie 16
Canalway Heritage Fund, Inc., to support the historic 17
preservation, conservation, recreation, interpretation, 18
tourism, and community development of the Erie 19
Canalway National Heritage Corridor and for educational 20
and commemorative programs of the Erie Canal’s history 21
and impact on our Nation’s history. 22
(c) A
UDITS.—The recipient of surcharges under this 23
Act shall be subject to the audit requirements of section 24
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5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with regard 1
to the amounts received under subsection (b). 2
(d) L
IMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 3
no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance 4
under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as 5
of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin 6
would result in the number of commemorative coin pro-7
grams issued during such year to exceed the annual 2 8
commemorative coin program issuance limitation under 9
section 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in 10
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act). The Sec-11
retary may issue guidance to carry out this subsection. 12
SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES. 13
The Secretary shall take such actions as may be nec-14
essary to ensure that— 15
(1) minting and issuing coins under this Act 16
will not result in any net cost to the United States 17
Government; and 18
(2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, 19
shall be disbursed to any recipient designated in sec-20
tion 7 until the total cost of designing and issuing 21
all of the coins authorized by this Act (including 22
labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead ex-23
penses, marketing, and shipping) is recovered by the 24
United States Treasury, consistent with sections 25
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5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States 1
Code. 2
Æ
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