# Plain Language Summary: Sultana Steamboat Disaster Commemorative Coin Act of 2024

This bill authorizes the U.S. Treasury to create and sell special commemorative coins honoring the Sultana steamboat disaster, which occurred on April 27, 1865. The Sultana was a paddlewheel steamboat on the Mississippi River that exploded, killing nearly 1,200 of the 2,137 people aboard—making it the deadliest maritime disaster in American history. Most of the victims were Union soldiers who had just been released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps and were heading home. The disaster was largely forgotten because it happened just days after President Lincoln's assassination and the death of his assassin, which dominated the news at the time.

The Treasury would mint three types of coins in 2027: up to 100,000 gold $5 coins, 500,000 silver $1 coins, and 750,000 half-dollar coins. These coins would be sold to collectors at prices higher than their face value—the Treasury would add charges to cover production costs plus extra fees called "surcharges." The surcharges would be $35 per gold coin, $10 per silver coin, and $5 per half-dollar coin. This means if you bought a $5 gold coin, you'd actually pay around $40 or more depending on production costs. The coins would be legal tender but are really intended as collectible items rather than everyday currency.

Here's the key part: all the surcharge money collected from selling these coins would go directly to the Sultana Historical Preservation Society to help build and operate a museum in Marion, Arkansas dedicated to preserving the story of the disaster. The bill ensures the government doesn't lose money on this project—all production costs must be recovered before any surcharge money goes to the museum. This is essentially a way to fund a historical museum through voluntary purchases by people interested in commemorative coins and history.

Sultana Steamboat Disaster Commemorative Coin Act of 2024

Crawford, Eric A. "Rick"

Sultana Steamboat Disaster Commemorative Coin Act of 2024 This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 100,000 $5 gold coins, 500,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the Sultana steamboat explosion that occurred on April 27, 1865, on the Mississippi River.All surcharges received by Treasury from the sale of such coins must be paid to the Sultana Historical Preservation Society Inc. for the purpose of establishing, operating, and maintaining a museum.