Eleven people, each serving a four-year term, advise the US Treasury secretary on what goes onto American coins and medals. The group is the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, or CCAC, set up in 2003.
The treasury secretary appoints every member. Past members include basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, historian Robert Remini, numismatist Ute Wartenberg, coin expert Bill Fivaz, dealer Thomas Noe and designer Susan Kare.
What the law lets it do
Public Law 108-15 gives the committee three jobs. It advises on theme and design proposals for circulating coins, bullion coins, Congressional Gold Medals, and national and other medals. It advises on which events, people or places should appear on commemorative coins in each of the five calendar years after a commemorative coin designation is made. And it recommends the mintage level for any commemorative coin it backs.
The law describes the CCAC as an “informed, experienced and impartial resource” for the secretary, one that represents the interests of American citizens and collectors.
Some statutes go further. Under Public Law 116-330, the committee has to review coin design portfolios before the secretary makes a selection.
