Commems Collection: 1936 Albany, NY - House Vs. Senate

The Act that authorized the Albany, NY Charter commemorative half dollar, specified that all coins issued "shall bear the sate 1936, irrespective of the year in which they are minted or issued." When the bill proposing the coin was introduced in the House, it did not include such a requirement.

The original proposal, introduced in the House on April 23, 1936 by Representative Parker Corning (D-NY), stated "The coins authorized herein shall be issued in such numbers, and at such times as they shall be requested..." A multi-year program would have been a very real possibility.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures and was reported back with several amendments. Most significant among the recommended revisions was a change in authorized mintage from the requested 10,000 coins to a less-exclusionary 25,000; the recommended amendments were passed and the revised bill was sent to the Senate. Note: The Committee's amendment recommendations did not restrict the coin's issue dates.

When the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency took up the House-amended version of the bill, it noted the open-ended nature of the bill and recommended that the "loop hole" be closed. The Committee recommended an amendment via substitution that specified the coins be struck only by a single mint (vs. potentially all), that all of the struck coins be dated with the year in which they were authorized (not struck!) and that all coins were to be struck within one year of the coin's bill becoming law.

The full Senate approved the substitute language recommended by its Committee and sent the bill back to the House for consideration/concurrence. The House concurred with the new language of the Senate-amended bill and passed it without debate. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 16, 1936.

The Senate again saved collectors from a potential multi-year program!

1936 Albany, NY Charter 250th Anniversary



For other of my posts about the Albany, NY Half Dollar, check out:

- 1936 Albany, NY Charter 250th Anniversary
- 1936 Albany, NY Charter 250th Anniversary - Ephemera
- 1936 Albany, NY Charter 250th Anniversary - Unused Funds
- 1936 Albany, NY Charter 250th Anniversary - Coins with Flora Thread