Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act

Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act

This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5499 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5499

    To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 12, 2018

  Mr. Richmond (for himself, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, and Mr. Scalise) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stephen Michael Gleason 
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Stephen ``Steve'' Gleason was born March 19, 1977, in 
        Spokane, Washington to Mike and Gail Gleason.
            (2) Steve attended Gonzaga Preparatory School for high 
        school where he excelled as both a football and baseball 
        player.
            (3) In 1995, Steve enrolled at Washington State University 
        where he was a 2-sport athlete for the baseball and football 
        teams and helped the Cougars football team advance to the 1997 
        Rose Bowl.
            (4) In 2000, Steve signed a professional football contract 
        with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League as 
        an undrafted free agent but later joined the New Orleans Saints 
        in November of that same season.
            (5) Steve would go on to play 7 more seasons as a member of 
        the New Orleans Saints.
            (6) Steve will always be remembered for his blocked punt on 
        September 25, 2006, against the Atlanta Falcons, the night the 
        Louisiana Superdome reopened for the first time after Hurricane 
        Katrina in a game the Saints would win 23 to 3.
            (7) In January, 2011 Steve was diagnosed with amyotrophic 
        lateral sclerosis or ALS, considered a terminal neuro-muscular 
        disease.
            (8) Following his diagnosis, Steve, with the loving support 
        of his wife, Michel, began a mission to show that patients can 
        not only live but thrive after a diagnosis of ALS and 
        established The Gleason Initiative Foundation also known simply 
        as ``Team Gleason''.
            (9) At the time of his diagnosis, however, Steve said there 
        will be ``No White Flags'', which has become the mantra of Team 
        Gleason.
            (10) The Gleason Initiative Foundation helps provide 
        individuals with neuromuscular diseases or injuries with 
        leading edge technology, equipment and services, raises global 
        awareness about ALS to find solutions and an end to the 
        disease, and has helped hundreds of people with ALS experience 
        life adventures they never thought possible after their 
        diagnosis.
            (11) Steve's story and mission have been told by the NFL 
        Network, ESPN, HBO, ABC, CBS, CNN, and many local media 
        outlets, as well as in a 2016 documentary titled ``Gleason'', 
        which was heralded at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered 
        across the country with Variety calling the production ``an 
        emotional powerhouse''. The documentary won several awards, 
        including the 2016 Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics 
        Association Award for Best Documentary.
            (12) Steve was named 1 of 2 Sports Illustrated's 
        Inspirations of the Year in 2014, has been a keynote speaker 
        for Microsoft and at 2 United Nations sponsored Social 
        Innovation Summits, and received the 2015 George S. Halas 
        Courage Award, given to a NFL player, coach or staff member who 
        overcomes the most adversity to succeed.
            (13) Steve helped advocate for the Steve Gleason Act of 
        2015 (Public Law 114-40; 129 Stat. 441), and the Steve Gleason 
        Enduring Voices Act of 2017, H.R. 2465, 115th Congress (2017), 
        which permanently ensures people living with diseases such as 
        ALS have access to speech generating devices regardless of 
        their setting, whether at home or a healthcare institution.
            (14) In 2014, Steve and Team Gleason hosted a global summit 
        to bring together researchers, patients, caregivers, and all 
        ALS stakeholders to create a plan to ultimately end ALS. That 
        summit resulted in the single largest coordinated and 
        collaborative ALS research project in the world, Answer ALS, 
        which brings together nearly two dozen research institutions, 
        1,000 patients and 20,000,000,000,000 data points that are 
        important to the project and that will define the unknown 
        pathways that will lead to treatments or finally a cure.
            (15) In 2015, Steve and Microsoft worked together to create 
        a method for people who are completely paralyzed to navigate 
        their power wheelchairs with their eyes. Today, Steve, 
        Microsoft and all wheelchair manufacturers are working 
        collaboratively to make it widely available to all who need 
        this technology. Microsoft has also made eye tracking 
        technology part of all Windows 10 products across the globe.
            (16) In 2011, 10 months after his diagnosis, Steve and 
        Michel made their most significant accomplishment, becoming 
        parents to their son Rivers.
            (17) In addition to serving as advocates for all who are 
        suffering from other debilitating neurological diseases, Steve 
        and Michel Gleason continue to fight to find a solution for ALS 
        so they can share many years together and as parents to Rivers.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives 
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate 
arrangements for the award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold 
medal of appropriate design to Stephen Michael Gleason.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to 
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act 
referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the 
Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal 
struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the 
medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes 
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
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