thorize a York County half dollar was introduced into the United States Senate on May 8, 1936 by Senator Wallace H. White of Maine. It was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency. That committee reported back on May 21, 1936, through Alva B. Adams of Colorado. Senator Adams had heard of the commemorative coin abuses of the mid-1930s, with low mintages effectively unavailable to the collector, or issuers increasing the number of coins needed for a complete set by having them issued at different mints with different mint marks; and had held hearings on this on March 11, 1936. Thus, the committee report noted that the original bill had been amended "with the standardized amendments which have been adopted as a legislative policy" by the committee, including requiring an issue of not less than 25,000 coins, and limiting issuance to a single mint, to be selected by the Director of the Mint. A parallel House bill
had been introduced by Simon M. Hamlin of Maine on May 12. That bill garnered a favorable report from the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, to which it had been referred, and Andrew Somers of New York reported it back to the House on May 29, recommending that the bill pass. That bill was brought to the House floor on June 15, 1936, but unanimous consent was required for its consideration and John Taber of New York objected. The Senate bill, with the recommended amendments, was passed without debate or dissent on June 1, 1936. The House of Representatives consided the bill, on Somers's motion, on June 20. That day was the final day of the session, and an exceptionally busy day in Congress. A housing and slum clearance bill was pending in the House, but languishing in committee, and Ohio's Stephen M. Young initially objected, stating that the House should be devoting its time to important bills, not proposals for the coinage of half dollars. Somers asked him to wit
hdraw his objection, joined by Bertrand H. Snell of New York, who stated that if Young pressed his objection to this after there being no objection to the many other bills that had been passed, then "I give notice that there will be a lot of other things objected to". Young withdrew his objection, and the bill passed without further debate or dissent. It was enacted into law with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 29, 1936, authorizing 30,000 York County half dollars, of which no less than 25,000 could be issu