While several pieces of commemorative coin legislation were introduced during the 117th Congress in 2021 and 2022 seeking commemorative coins to be issued in calendar year 2023, none of the bills moved out of the committees where they were referred after introduction.

Consequently, the U.S. Mint is currently not scheduled to produce and issue any commemorative coins dated 2023. The last “gap” year for modern commemorative coinage was n 1985, just three years after the resumption of commemorative coin programs. Since 1986, every year has witnessed one or more commemorative coin programs.

Any commemorative coin bills signed into law by President Biden from the 117th Congress authorized coins dated 2024 and later.

Commemorative coin programs proposed for 2023 sought either silver dollars, with a maximum combined mintages in Proof and Uncirculated versions of not more than 400,000 or 500,000 coins, or a three-coin program that would authorize up to 50,000 Proof and Uncirculated gold $5 coins combined; 400,000 silver dollars; and 750,000 copper-nickel clad half dollars. It is not known if any of the proposed bills will be reintroduced in the 118th Congress.

The proposed pieces of legislation that received no consideration after their initial introduction were:
➤ H.R. 8244, Granite Mountain Hotshots Commemorative Coin Act, three-coin program to recognize firefighters who battled the June 28, 2013, Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona triggered by a lightning strike. Introduced June 28, 2022, by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, R-Ariz. If approved, this program in its original form would have resulted in 120 different coins total.
➤ H.R. 6681, 100th Anniversary of the Lincoln Memorial Commemorative Coin Act, 500,000 silver dollars to be dated 2023 even though the centennial anniversary was in 2022, introduced Feb. 9, 2022, by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois.
➤ H.R. 5940, Paul Laurence Dunbar Commemorative Coin Act, introduced Nov. 9, 2021, by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, three-coin program to recognize Dunbar for his influence as an African American poet.
➤ H.R. 5940, Working Dog Commemorative Coin Act, introduced Sept. 10, 2021, by Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-North Carolina, three-coin program, 50,000 gold $5 coins, 500,000 silver dollars, and 750,000 copper-nickel clad half dollars, to recognize the contributions of military K-9s, as well as dogs providing service to civilians.
➤ H.R. 4703, Sultana Steamboat Disaster Commemorative Coin Act of 2021, introduced July 27, 2021, by Rep. Eric A. Crawford in recognition and remembrance of the SS Sultana steamboat explosion of April 27, 1865, three-coin program to include 500,000 silver dollars instead of 400,000.
➤ H.R. 1648, National Women’s Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act of 2021, three-coin program to include 400,000 silver dollars, to recognize and celebrate the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, introduced March 8. 2021, by Rep. Joseph D. Morella, D-N.Y.
➤ S. 867, companion legislation to H.R. 1648 with the same provisions introduced in the U.S. Senate March 18, 2021, by Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

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