Commems Collection Classic: 1936 Long Island - House Vs. Senate - Addendum

I previously posted about the House bill that called for a half dollar "in commemoration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the first settlement on Long Island, New York" and how the Senate substituted its original language. (Link below.)

I wanted to circle back and add an additional element to the story...

I didn't mention previously that at the time the House bill was introduced, a companion bill was proposed in the Senate by Senator Royal Samuel Copeland (D-NY). The bill included the same provisions as the original House bill: a minimum of 100,000 coins, no mint facility restrictions, no specified date to be placed on the coins and no expiration date for when the coins could be ordered by the sponsor.

The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency upon its introduction. As I discussed in my previous post, when the House bill was reviewed by the Senate Committee, its language was replaced via substitution before being reported out. The House bill, as amended in the Senate, moved forward and was eventually passed by Congress and signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Copeland's companion bill was never reported out of Committee. If the Committee had acted upon it, it's extremely likely it would first have been amended in the same manner as the House bill - the Senate Committee, at the time, was very consistent in its approval process for commemorative coin bills.

House and Senate companion bills were seen often within the US commemorative coin series; only one can progress to final passage by Congress and approval by the President, however. The legislative history of the Long Island Tercentenary half dollar was a fairly common tale for the day.

1936 Long Island Tercentenary Half Dollar



For more on the Long Island half dollar's House vs. Senate story, see:

- 1936 Long Island Tercentenary - House vs. Senate

For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more on the Long Island half dollar, see: Commems Collection.