Bill Text: HI HCR214 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Concurrent Resolution 214 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging The United States Department Of The Treasury To Maintain The Original Timeline To Introduce Harriet Tubman And Other Female And Civil Rights Leaders Onto United States Currency By 2020 To Celebrate One Hundred Years Of Women's Suffrage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 24-1)

Status: (Passed) 2019-04-22 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HCR214 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2019-HCR214-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	214
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

URGING THE United States dEPARTMENT OF The TREASURY TO MAINTAIN THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE TO INTRODUCE HARRIET TUBMAN AND OTHER FEMALE AND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS ONTO UNITED STATES CURRENCY BY 2020 TO CELEBRATE One hundred YEARS OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE.

WHEREAS, throughout United States history, women and persons of color have played instrumental roles in the advancement of human and civil rights for all Americans, as well as in the formation of a more perfect union; and

WHEREAS, Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, spent the bulk of her life as a leading abolitionist advocate and suffragist, and also served as a spy for the Union during the American Civil War; and

WHEREAS, in April 2016, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob L. Lew announced that with the input of more than one million Americans, the $20, $10, and $5 notes would be updated to include Harriet Tubman, along with other suffrage and civil rights leaders; and

WHEREAS, the centennial anniversary of Women's Suffrage is to be celebrated in the year 2020; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Reserve periodically redesigns United States currency to stay ahead of counterfeiting threats and keep counterfeiting levels low; and

WHEREAS, as defined by the United States Department of the Treasury, the criteria for representation on a United States bank note is that the portraits on our currency notes shall be of deceased persons whose places in history the American people know well; and

WHEREAS, one of the functions of United States banknotes is to celebrate the history of the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, United States banknotes are internationally distributed and send a message at home and abroad about what and whom we value as a nation; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the Senate concurring, that the United States Treasury is urged to expedite the process of designing the new $5, $10, and $20 banknotes, fulfilling the commitment made in 2016 to introduce Harriet Tubman and other female and civil rights leaders onto United States currency by 2020; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Federal Reserve should be authorized to continue to work on the designs of the new currencies with an aim of unveiling them to the American people and the world during the centennial year of women's suffrage in 2020; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that implementation of the new Federal Reserve notes, as a statement of our American values, should be streamlined to allow for the introduction into public use within the next decade; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, United States Secretary of the Treasury, Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Chair of the Federal Reserve, and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.