The Mint traces the origins of the 50 State Quarters program to a congressional hearing in June 1995, at which Mint Director Philip N. Diehl, as well as prominent numismatists, urged Congress to pass legislation allowing a series of circulating commemorative coins similar to the quarters Canada had recently struck for its provinces. In response, Congress passed the United States Commemorative Coins Act of 1996, which was signed by President Bill Clinton on October 20, 1996. The act directed the Mint to study whether a series of commemorative quarters would be successful. The Mint duly studied the matter, and reported favorably. Although the act had given Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin the authority to carry out the report by selecting new coin designs, Secretary Rubin preferred to await congressional action. The resulting 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act was signed by President Clinton on December 1, 1997. Under the act, each of the fifty states would be honored with a new quarter, to be issued five a year beginning in 1999, with the sequence of issuance determined by the order the states had entered the Union. The act allowed the Secretary to determine the position of the required legends, such as "" on the coin: To accommodate a large design on the reverse, "" and "" were moved to the obverse, and the bust of Washington shrunken slightly. A state's design would be selected by the Treasury Secretary on the recommendation of the state's governor.