136 STAT. 1353
PUBLIC LAW 117–163—AUG. 3, 2022
Public Law 117–163
117th Congress
An Act
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition
of the Bicentennial of Harriet Tubman’s birth.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harriet Tubman Bicentennial
Commemorative Coin Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Harriet Tubman was a formerly enslaved abolitionist
who guided about 70 people from slavery to freedom in 10
years.
(2) Born in March 1822, Tubman was a notable abolitionist
who not only freed herself, but also freed others from slavery.
(3) Harriet Ross Tubman, born Araminta ‘‘Minty’’ Ross,
was born enslaved on the plantation of Anthony Thompson
in Dorchester County, Maryland.
(4) With the help of the Underground Railroad network,
in the fall of 1849, Tubman escaped from Poplar Neck in
Caroline County, Maryland, heading north to freedom in
Pennsylvania.
(5) With the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act as part
of the Compromise of 1850, the operations to help enslaved
persons escape became dangerous and she risked her life to
rescue them from slavery.
(6) Despite passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the
Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman continued her work, escorting her
refugees to Canada instead.
(7) It was during the 1850s that Tubman made 13 trips
back to Maryland, guiding approximately 70 enslaved persons
to the North, including family members, and providing instruc-
tion to about 70 more who found their way to freedom on
their own.
(8) Regardless of the arduous process of helping fugitive
enslaved persons escape through the Underground Railroad,
not a single person was recaptured under Tubman’s super-
vision.
(9) During 1859, Tubman aided abolitionist John Brown
by recruiting supporters for his raid on Harper’s Ferry, a
planned insurrection against slaveholders in Virginia and Mary-
land.
Harriet Tubman
Bicentennial
Commemorative
Coin Act.
31 USC 5112
note.
Aug. 3, 2022
[H.R. 1842]
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136 STAT. 1354
PUBLIC LAW 117–163—AUG. 3, 2022
(10) In the beginning of the Civil War, Tubman served
as a spy, cook, and nurse in South Carolina and Florida.
(11) Tubman also recruited newly freed African-American
men to join regiments of African-American soldiers called
United States Colored Troops.
(12) In recognition of her abilities, Tubman served as an
army scout and spy for Major General David Hunter and
Colonel James Montgomery. Harriet Tubman was inducted into
the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame.
(13) Tubman distinguished herself as the first woman to
lead an armed expedition in the Civil War, the Combahee
River Raid, resulting in more than 700 enslaved persons in
South Carolina being freed.
(14) After the Civil War, Tubman frequently sheltered and
fed newly freed enslaved persons at her home on South Street
in Auburn, New York, which she purchased from Secretary
of State William Henry Seward, even though she had little
money herself. She found a means to an end by working as
a domestic, selling produce from her garden, taking in donations
of food, loans from friends, and raising pigs on her farm.
(15) Tubman became active in the women’s movement as
early as 1860. She attended meetings and gave speeches in
her home State of New York, as well as in Boston and Wash-
ington, D.C.
(16) Tubman was an avid advocate for African-American
women and their civil rights. In 1896, she was invited as
a speaker at the first meeting of the National Association
of Colored Women in Washington, D.C.
(17) Although living in financial insecurity, Tubman trans-
ferred a 25-acre parcel of land to the African Methodist Epis-
copal Zion Church in 1903, which eventually became The Har-
riet Tubman Home for the Aged and Indigent Negroes. At
the time, few social services existed for elderly and ill people
of color.
(18) Escaping slavery, risking everything to save her family
and friends, aiding enslaved persons in escape from slavery,
leading a military raid, championing the cause of women’s
suffrage, advocating for civil rights and access to health care,
Harriet Tubman is an individual that has performed achieve-
ments that have had profound impacts on history and culture
in the United States.
SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS.
(a) DENOMINATIONS.—In commemoration of Harriet Tubman,
the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter referred to in this Act
as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue the following coins:
(1) $5 GOLD COINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5 coins, which
shall—
(A) weigh 8.359 grams;
(B) be struck on a planchet having a diameter of 0.850
inches; and
(C) contain at least 90 percent gold.
(2) $1 SILVER COINS.—Not more than 400,000 $1 coins,
which shall—
(A) weigh 26.73 grams;
(B) be struck on a planchet having a diameter of 1.500
inches; and
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136 STAT. 1355
PUBLIC LAW 117–163—AUG. 3, 2022
(C) contain at least 90 percent silver.
(3) HALF-DOLLAR CLAD COINS.—Not more than 750,000 half-
dollar coins which shall—
(A) weigh 11.34 grams;
(B) have a diameter of 1.205 inches; and
(C) be minted to the specifications for half-dollar coins
contained in section 5112(b) of title 31, United States Code.
(b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this Act shall
be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of title 31, United
States Code.
(c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 5134 and
5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins minted under this
Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 4. DESIGNS OF COINS.
(a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The designs of the coins minted under
this Act shall be emblematic of the legacy of Harriet Tubman
as an abolitionist. At least one obverse design shall bear the
image of Harriet Tubman.
(2) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On each coin minted
under this Act, there shall be—
(A) an inscription of Harriet Tubman;
(B) a designation of the value of the coin;
(C) an inscription of the year ‘‘2024’’; and
(D) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, ‘‘In God We
Trust’’, ‘‘United States of America’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus
Unum’’.
(b) SELECTION.—The designs for the coins minted under this
Act shall be—
(1) selected by the Secretary, after consultation with the
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati,
Ohio, The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. in Auburn, New York,
and the Commission of the Fine Arts; and
(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS.
(a) QUALITY
OF COINS.—Coins minted under this Act shall
be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities.
(b) MINT FACILITY.—Only 1 facility of the United States Mint
may be used to strike any particular quality of the coins minted
under this Act.
(c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary may issue coins under
this Act only during the period beginning on January 1, 2024,
and ending on December 31, 2024.
SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS.
(a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act shall be
sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum of—
(1) the face value of the coins;
(2) the surcharge provided under section 7(a) with respect
to the coins; and
(3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins (including
labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses,
marketing, and shipping).
(b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk sales of the
coins issued under this Act at a reasonable discount.
(c) PREPAID ORDERS.—
Review.
Consultation.
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136 STAT. 1356
PUBLIC LAW 117–163—AUG. 3, 2022
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept prepaid orders
for the coins minted under this Act before the issuance of
the coins.
(2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to prepaid orders
under paragraph (1) shall be at a reasonable discount.
SEC. 7. SURCHARGES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—All sales of coins issued under this Act shall
include—
(1) a surcharge of $35 per coin for the $5 coins;
(2) a surcharge of $10 per coin for the $1 coins; and
(3) a surcharge of $5 per coin for the half-dollar coin.
(b) DISTRIBUTION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), sub-
ject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United States Code, all sur-
charges received by the Secretary from the sale of coins issued
under this Act shall be promptly paid by the Secretary equally
to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, and The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. in Auburn,
New York, for the purpose of accomplishing and advancing
their missions.
(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding section 5134(f)(1) of title
31, United States Code, if an entity described in paragraph
(1) of this subsection raises funds from private sources in an
amount that is less than the total amount of the proceeds
of the surcharge derived from the sale of the coins issued
under this Act, the Secretary shall promptly pay to the other
entity the proceeds of such surcharge.
(c) AUDITS.—The National Underground Railroad Freedom
Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc.
in Auburn, New York, shall be subject to the audit requirements
of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with regard
to the amounts received under subsection (b).
(d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge
may be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of
any coin during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance,
the issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemora-
tive coin programs issued during such year to exceed the annual
2 commemorative coin program issuance limitation under section
5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code. The Secretary of the
Treasury may issue guidance to carry out this subsection.
SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES.
The Secretary shall take such actions as may be necessary
to ensure that—
(1) minting and issuing coins under this Act will not result
in any net cost to the United States Government; and
(2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, are disbursed
to any recipient designated in section 7 until the total cost
of designing and issuing all of the coins authorized by this
Act (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, winning
design compensation, overhead expenses, marketing, and ship-
ping) is recovered by the United States Treasury, consistent
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136 STAT. 1357
PUBLIC LAW 117–163—AUG. 3, 2022
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 1842 (S. 697):
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 168 (2022):
July 26, considered and passed House.
July 27, considered and passed Senate.
Æ
with sections 5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States
Code.
Approved August 3, 2022.
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