Paul Hollis — a decades-long coin collector and dealer, an author and former Louisiana state representative — appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Oct. 30 as President Trump’s nominee to become the 41st director of the United States Mint.

President Trump nominated Hollis on July 16. The nomination will have to be brought before the full Senate for a vote as to whether Hollis receives confirmation for a five-year term or not.

Currently, the coin bureau is being directed by Acting Mint Director Kristie McNally who served as deputy Mint director for the 40th Mint director, Ventris Gibson, a Democrat. Gibson stepped down as Mint director in March after President Trump asked for her resignation so he could eventually fill the post with his own nominee.

Hollis served in the Louisiana State legislature from 2012 through 2024, and at the time of his nomination by President Trump was serving in Louisiana as a member of the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Hollis also authored the 2011 book, American Numismatist, on behalf of the American Numismatic Association, examining parallels within the history of the United States and the plethora of coins that have been struck along the way.

During his testimony, which was broadcast via YouTube, the 53-year-old Hollis proudly detailed his four-decade love and participation in the hobby of numismatics.

Hollis relayed he was bitten by the numismatic bug at the age of seven when his grandmother presented him with a coin she had hidden away during the Great Depression. Hollis cherishes that coin still, carrying the keepsake in his pocket during each milestone in his life as a reminder.

“That small gesture left a lasting impression that quietly steered the course of my life,” Hollis testified. “Today, I keep the coin that she gave me nearly a half-century ago as a tribute to her.”

Sen. Christopher Van Hollen, D-Maryland, brought up the controversy surrounding the Treasury Department’s hierarchy contemplating the production and circulation during the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration in 2026 of a $1 coin featuring a likeness of of President Trump, even though current law prohibits any living person of being recognized on a coin of the United States.

Van Hollen queried Hollis as to whether he believed a Trump dollar would violate monetary laws. Van Hollen noted the prohibition against live individuals appearing on U.S. currency was to avoid the appearance of a monarchy. Obverse and reverse designs for a proposed Trump dollar have been circulated in the media from Treasury Deoartment sources.

Hollis, who has three decades of experience as a professional numismatist, assured Van Hollen he would consult the proper legal authorities for direction on the topic.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, commented on her own involvement with the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 that created the four-year American Woman circulating quarter dollars program that is ending in 2025 and the Semiquincentennial circulating coins to be released in 2026.

Masto expressed her concerns over ths possibility of a Trump dollar in 2026, noting that the legislation’s intent was not to issue a circulating coin featuring an actively serving president.

Public Law 116-330 was signed into law Jan. 13, 2021, by President Trump on the same date the 45th president was impeached for the second time.

The incoming Mint director will be responsible for overseeing the 2026 redesign, production and circulation of circulating coin denominations as well as the Best of the Mint special issues pulled from the archives of historic coin releases over its history since the bureau’s establishment by Congress legislatively on April 2, 1792.

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