Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985
Public Law 99-185 · S. 1639 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Dec 17, 1985 · Finance and Financial Sector
Sponsor: Sen. James Exon (D-NE)
Cosponsors (16): Sen. Alan Cranston, Sen. Dennis DeConcini,
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue gold coins in 50-dollar, 25-dollar, ten-dollar, and five-dollar denominations. Requires the Secretary to acquire the gold for such coins by purchase of gold mined from natural deposits in the United States or a U.S. territory or possession within one year after the month the ore was mined. Prohibits the Secretary from paying more than the average world price for such gold. Allows the Secretary to use gold from U.S. reserves in the absence of available supplies of such mined gold at the average world price.
Repeals a provision prohibiting the Government from delivering any gold coin.
Requires any profit from the sale of such coins to be deposited in the Treasury and applied toward reducing the national debt. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the issuance of such coins results in no net cost to the Government.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 9 actions.
- Dec 17, 1985Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-185.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 5, 1985PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Dec 2, 1985FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- Nov 14, 1985FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote.
- Nov 13, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- Sep 12, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.