HJR 9-ELIZABETH PERATROVICH COMMEMORATIVE COIN    4:52:47 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9, Requesting the United States Secretary of the Treasury to mint not less than 5,000,000 $1 coins honoring Elizabeth Peratrovich under the Native American $1 Coin Act. 4:53:04 PM REPRESENTATIVE DELANA JOHNSON, Alaska State Legislature, as prime sponsor of HJR 9, stated that the proposed resolution came about through discussions with 4-H youth who visited the capitol and requested that the Elizabeth Peratrovich coin, scheduled to be minted in 2020, not be just a collector's item but a coin distributed for real use in Alaska. She paraphrased from the sponsor statement, which read in part [original punctuation provided]: Through House Joint Resolution 9, the Alaska State House of Representatives is asking the United States President, Vice President, and the US Secretary of Treasury to mint not less than a full run of 5,000,000 Elizabeth Peratrovich $1 coins and to deliver them to the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for distribution throughout the State of Alaska and to coin collectors. 4:54:51 PM MARCY HERMAN, Staff, Representative DeLana Johnson, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Johnson, prime sponsor of HJR 9, stated that specialty coinage is a way to honor Alaska's past and reflect on its heritage. These coins are typically distributed to coin collectors; the resolution would ask that 5 million minted coins be distributed throughout Alaska and to coin collectors. She paraphrased from the sponsor statement, which read in part [original punctuation provided]: In 2000, the US Mint released the Sacagawea Golden Dollar which featured a portrait of Sacagawea carrying her infant son, Jean-Baptiste. In 2009, the United States Mint began minting and issuing $1 coins featuring designs celebrating the important contributions to the history and development of the United States made by Native American tribes and individual Native Peoples. MS. HERMAN relayed that the Elizabeth Peratrovich [coin] would be the twelfth Native American commemorative coin but only the fourth coin honoring an individual, as opposed to a tribe. She explained that Elizabeth Peratrovich was chosen for the Native American $1 coin because she was an important civil rights activist before there was even the term "civil rights activist." Elizabeth Peratrovich refused to be silent in the face of injustice, helping Alaskans see the reality of discrimination and its devasting effect on those against whom discrimination was practiced. She advocated for the passage of the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, which was the first anti- discrimination law in the U.S., passed on February 16, 1945. Elizabeth Peratrovich symbolizes the crucial role that the public plays in the legislative process. She also served as the grand princess of the Alaska Native Sisterhood and was name the 2018 honoree of the National Women's History Alliance. The Alaska State Legislature has already recognized Elizabeth Peratrovich by establishing February 16 each year as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day; in 1992, the public gallery of the chambers of the House of Representatives, formerly known as Gallery B, was renamed in her honor. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON concluded by saying that in 2020, the residents of Alaska will celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich and the 75th anniversary of the Anti-Discrimination Act. That same year is the year that the U.S. Treasury is scheduled to issue the commemorative coin recognizing Elizabeth Peratrovich. She stated that HJR 9 would ask the U.S. Treasury to continue the campaign to encourage commercial enterprises to accept and dispense the Elizabeth Peratrovich Native American commemorative $1 coin in such a way that it would not be only a collector's coin but would have a use in Alaska. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON pointed out that the 4-H young people who came to the capitol demonstrate that a single person or several people, speaking from the heart and working on something in which they believe, can significantly and positively affect the future of all Alaskans. 4:58:58 PM REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked whether the number of coins to be issued - 5 million - was arbitrary or a standard issue. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON replied that 3 billion Sacagawea [Golden Dollar] coins were minted since 2000. The last year it was minted was 2016, during which 2.1 million coins were minted; every year about that number was minted. She stated that she could not find out the number minted under a collector's run. She relayed that the number - 5 million - came from a coin enthusiast in Fairbanks who has been working with the Forget-Me- Not 4-H club. 5:00:15 PM CO-CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS asked whether Representative Johnson would be amenable to an amendment adding the Congressional delegation as recipients of copies of HJR 9. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON responded that it would be fine. [HJR 9 was held over.]