OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Dec. 18, 2024) – A bill filed in the Oklahoma Senate would establish a gold and silver bullion depository that would facilitate the everyday use of gold and silver in transactions as well.
Sen. David Bullard filed Senate Bill 33 (SB33). The legislation would create the Oklahoma Bullion Depository in the Office of the State Treasurer to serve as “the custodian, guardian, and administrator of certain bullion and specie that may be transferred or acquired by the state, or an agency, political subdivision or other instrumentality of the state.” The depository would also accept deposits of gold and silver by private individuals.
Significantly SB33 would establish a mechanism for individuals to engage in transactions using precious metals including gold and silver.
“The depository shall make available a debit card, issued upon a request by the depository account holder, in which the depository account holder may make transactions which are debited from the balance of the holder’s account. The balance available to the depository account holder through use of the debit card shall be equal to eighty percent (80%) of the current spot price of the deposits of the depository account holder.”
The bill is based on a similar law that was passed in Texas and signed into law by Gov. Abbott in 2015. The Texas depository received its first deposits in the summer of 2018. The following year, the state exempted precious metals in these depositories from taxation.
IMPACT
The Oklahoma Bullion Depository would open the market to sound money in day-to-day transactions. Using their bullion account, any person or entity would be able to do business using a debit card that seamlessly converts gold and silver held in the depository to fiat currency in the background. This would enable private individuals and businesses to purchase goods and services using assets held in their depository account in the same way they use dollars held in a bank today.
In effect, bullion depository accounts with a transactional mechanism would give people a way to shield themselves from the rapid loss of purchasing power inherent in the fiat dollar.
State bills that facilitate and encourage the use of sound money create a playing field where people can push back against the Fed’s monetary malfeasance. Ultimately, it could create a scenario where people can drive out the “bad” fiat money with “good” sound money.
The Oklahoma Bullion Depository would also create an avenue toward financial independence. Countries around the world have been buying gold to limit their dependence on the U.S. dollar. In a discussion about the Texas Bullion Depository, University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus said a state depository can serve a similar function.
“This is another in a long line of ways to make Texas more self-reliant and less tethered to the federal government. The financial impact is small but the political impact is telling, Many conservatives are interested in returning to the gold standard and circumvent the Federal Reserve in whatever small way they can.”
The United States Constitution states in Article I, Section 10, “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”
The creation of an Oklahoma Gold Depository would take another step toward that constitutional requirement, ignored for decades in every state. Such a tactic would undermine the monopoly of the Federal Reserve System by introducing competition into the monetary system.
WHAT’S NEXT
SB33 will be referred to a committee when the legislative session begins on Feb. 3.
- Constitutional Money Act Filed in Missouri House - December 20, 2024
- South Carolina Bill Would Limit Government Use of ALPRs - December 18, 2024
- Oklahoma Bill Would Create State Bullion Depository - December 18, 2024