Note: I've written before about the Congressional path of the 1938 New Rochelle Half Dollar - see it here 1938 New Rochelle - Bills in Congress - but this post offers a specific focus on the bill that was eventually approved and resulted in the New Rochelle half dollar being struck.The successful bill that proposed a 1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary Half Dollar was introduced in the House of Representatives in January 1936; the bill was introduced by Representative Charles Dunsmore Millard (R-NY). It followed the format used by other commemorative coin proposals written by House members, it allowed for the coins to be struck at multiple Mint facilities, didn't require a specific date to be included on the coins and was open-ended in terms of when the coins could be requested and struck.
The bill proposed a maximum mintage of 20,000 coins.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. The Committee reported the bill favorably with a recommendation to increase the mintage to 25,000 and make minor wording changes to the description of/reference to the sponsor's representatives; the coin's sponsor was the Office of the Mayor, New Rochelle, NY.
The amended bill was considered by the Full House and passed without objection. (It really was an easy time for commemorative coin proposals!) Once approved, it was sent to the Senate for its consideration.
Upon its receipt in the Senate, the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency. As had become "standard procedure" for the Committee, it objected to the provisions included in the House bill (see above) and recommended substituting the bill's original text with the more restrictive language it had developed for similar coin proposals. The amended version restricted mintage to a single Mint, required the coins to be dated 1936 "irrespective of the year in which they are minted or issued" and established the expiration of coining authority to be one year after the bill's enactment via the signature of the President.
The updated bill was returned to the House for its consideration. It was brought up for consideration on two separate occasions. The first time, the Senate amendment was accepted and concurred with but a challenge was raised regarding whether a proper quorum was present at the time. As a result, the bill was returned to the Speaker's table for later consideration; it came up for discussion again 10 days later with a quorum present. During the second consideration, the Senate version of the bill was passed and a new amendment was offered. The House amendment changed the minimum order size for the coins from 5,000 to 25,000 and changed to date to be included on the coins from "1936" to "1938."
The House amendments were passed without objection and the bill was referred back to the Senate for final concurrence. A motion was made in the Senate to accept the House amendments; the motion passed without objection.
The bill was enrolled and signed in each chamber, then sent to the President. Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill into law on May 5, 1936.
1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary Half Dollar
For more on the New Rochelle half dollar, check out:
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1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary-
1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary - Revisited-
1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary - Bills in Congress-
1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary - Coins Designed by a Woman Thread-
1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary - Coins Depicting an Agriculture Theme Thread-
1938 New Rochelle, NY 250th Anniversary - Coins with Flora ThreadFor other of my posts on commemorative coins and medals, see:
Commems Collection 
Posted 01/16/2022 10:13 pm
