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By Brandon Norris

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What Is the CCAC? How America's Coin Designs Get Chosen

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The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee: America's Design Advisors

Every U.S. coin design issued since the mid-2000s has passed through a process that most Americans know nothing about. Before a design reaches the die, before the die strikes the blank, before the blank lands in your pocket — a committee of eleven citizens reviewed it, scored it, debated it, and sent a recommendation to the Treasury Secretary. That committee is the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, or CCAC.

Understanding the CCAC is essential for any serious numismatist who wants to follow upcoming coin programs, track design decisions, or simply understand why coins look the way they do. This post explains who the CCAC is, how it works, and how you — as a collector — can engage with the process.

Origins: Public Law 108-15

The CCAC was established by Public Law 108-15, the American 5-Cent Coin Design Continuity Act of 2003. Despite its name, this law did much more than address the nickel — it created a permanent advisory body to provide public input on all U.S. coin and medal designs. The CCAC replaced the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee, which the same law abolished, and gave the design review process a broader statutory foundation.

The new law (codified at 31 U.S.C. 5135) formalized the process, specified the committee's composition, defined its mandate, and required that its meetings be open to the public and that it report each year to the Secretary and to Congress.

Committee Composition: Eleven Members

The CCAC has eleven members, all appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, with seats set aside to ensure a diversity of perspectives:

  • 1 member qualified as a curator of a numismatic collection
  • 1 member with expertise in medallic art or sculpture
  • 1 member with expertise in American history
  • 1 member with expertise in numismatics
  • 3 members representing the interests of the general public
  • 4 members appointed on the recommendation of congressional leaders — one each from the Speaker of the House, the House minority leader, the Senate majority leader and the Senate minority leader

Members serve four-year terms; the first appointments were staggered so that terms do not all end at once. This term structure ensures regular turnover while allowing for institutional continuity.

The CCAC's Mandate

The CCAC advises the Secretary of the Treasury on:

  • Themes and design concepts for U.S. coins and medals
  • Proposed designs submitted by the U.S. Mint
  • The overall quality and artistic merit of coin designs

The key word is "advises." The CCAC does not make final decisions — that authority rests with the Secretary of the Treasury. The CCAC's recommendations are formal and public, and the Secretary typically follows them, but is not legally bound to do so.

The Scoring System

When the CCAC reviews candidate designs for a coin program, it uses a scored voting methodology:

  • Each member scores each design candidate on a scale that typically allows up to 3 points per design per member
  • With 11 members fully present, the maximum theoretical score is 33 points
  • The number of voting members present at any given meeting affects the maximum score — sessions sometimes have fewer than 11 members, which is why scores like "23 out of 27" appear in meeting minutes (27 = 9 members × 3 points)
  • Designs are ranked by total score
  • When two designs tie, the committee conducts a roll-call voice vote to determine the final recommendation

This system produces clear, comparable data across all candidates in a session. A score of 28/33 represents near-consensus enthusiasm.

The Commission of Fine Arts: A Parallel Review

The CCAC is not the only body that reviews U.S. coin designs. The Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) — a separate federal advisory body established in 1910 — also reviews coin designs as part of its broader mandate to evaluate the aesthetic quality of federal art, architecture, and design.

The CFA and CCAC serve complementary but distinct roles:

  • The CCAC scores designs numerically, includes numismatists and members of the public, and focuses on whether a design best serves the coin's purpose and program mandate
  • The CFA evaluates aesthetic quality from a fine arts and design perspective, with members who are typically architects, artists, and landscape architects

Neither body's recommendations are binding. Both bodies' recommendations go to the Secretary of the Treasury, who has final authority.

The Secretary of the Treasury Makes the Final Decision

This is perhaps the most important fact for collectors to understand: neither the CCAC nor the CFA makes the final call. The Secretary of the Treasury is the ultimate decision-maker on all U.S. coin designs. In practice, Secretaries typically follow the CCAC's recommendations — but not always, and the degree to which a given Secretary engages with the advisory process varies by administration.

For collectors tracking upcoming coin programs, this means that a CCAC recommendation is a strong signal of what a coin will look like — but not a guarantee until the Secretary's letter of approval is issued.

Public Access: Meetings, Minutes, and Design Portfolios

All CCAC meetings are open to the public. Meetings are held either at U.S. Mint headquarters in Washington, D.C., or remotely by videoconference, and they are livestreamed on the Mint's YouTube channel. Meeting agendas, minutes, and the full design portfolios — including all candidate designs, not just the winners — are published on the CCAC's official website at ccac.gov.

Collectors who want to see every candidate design for a coin program — including the designs that were rejected — can find them in the CCAC's public records.

How Collectors Can Participate

There are several ways for numismatists and members of the public to engage with the CCAC process:

  • Attend public meetings: CCAC meetings are open. You can watch the livestream, or attend in person when a meeting is held at Mint headquarters (advance registration is required). Meetings are announced on ccac.gov and in the Federal Register.
  • Submit written comments: The public can send matters for the CCAC's consideration by email; the Federal Register notice for each meeting gives the address.
  • Review design portfolios: The full design portfolio for each program — including all candidates — is published, and the minutes and the committee's letters to the Secretary record the scores. This is valuable primary source material for collectors interested in the design history of specific coin programs.
  • Follow Secretary letters: The Secretary of the Treasury's formal design approval letters are public documents and mark the point at which a design is officially selected.

Recent CCAC Activity and This Post Series

The CCAC has been particularly active in 2026, reviewing designs for a range of new programs. NumisDex has covered several of these in detail:

Each of these posts demonstrates a different aspect of the CCAC design review process in action — from the scored voting mechanics and roll-call tiebreakers to the specific modification recommendations (like the Molten basketball on the Paralympic Half Dollar) that reflect the committee's detailed engagement with each design.

For collectors who want to follow the CCAC process in real time, bookmarking ccac.gov and checking it ahead of each meeting is the most direct way to stay current. NumisDex will continue covering significant CCAC meeting outcomes as new coin programs progress through the design review pipeline.

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