Customers across Missouri may soon be able to pay for their groceries and pay fees with gold and silver.
Missouri politicians this week, in a move that surprised some, approved a controversial bill that would generate gold and silver legal tender in the state. The policy, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly as an amendment to a sweeping finance-related costs, is headed to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office.
The Republican-led policy may require state government institutions to take electronic versions of gold and silver, called “electronic organisms money, ” as forms of payment for taxes and public debt. While the measure do not require companies to accept gold and silver as pay for private purposes, such as shopping, it may allow them to do thus.
“The purpose is about restoring economic and political freedom back to normal Missourians, ” state Rep. Bill Hardwick, a Dixon Republican who sponsored a version of the bill, told The Kansas City Star at the state Capitol.
But the policy is one of the more unusual costs considered by state lawmakers in recent years and earned just a passing notice during a House ground controversy this week. Its passing this time came as a shock to some in the state Capitol, as critics have scoffed at the idea and raised various questions about how it would work in practice.
State Rep. Kemp Strickler, a Kansas City Democrat, said he opposed the speech of the invoice dealing with gold and silver. Nevertheless, he supported different parts of the larger regulations and finally voted “present. ”
“Not a fan of that portion of it, ” Strickler said. “Assuming it gets signed, we’re in the ‘how do we utilize ’ level. ”
The whole text of the bill was still not accessible online Wednesday, more than 24 hours after passing through the General Assembly. However, the article, reviewed by the Star, may require the Missouri Department of Revenue to create rules on how to implement the law after it may take effect in August if signed by Kehoe.
Strickler said the bill’s passing was both concerning and amazing. He anticipated that many local organizations would choose not to accept gold and silver as forms of payment.
“ I do think this would be a big issue for private businesses, ” he said.
Politicians have filed versions of the policy, often called the “Constitutional Money Act, ” over the past several decades. The expenses have received backing from the Missouri Freedom Initiative, a local organization that supports right-wing problems such as lower fees, gun rights, school choice and anti-abortion reasons.
A message sent to the group ’s contact page was not immediately returned. Utah was the first state to legalize gold and silver as legal tender in 2011.
The legislation headed to Kehoe’s desk was considered a compromise version of the bill. A previous version faced pushback from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry for outright requiring businesses to accept gold and silver as payment.
While the chamber opposed the previous version, the prominent business advocacy group told the Star this week that it did not take a position on the new version approved by lawmakers.
“The Missouri Chamber did not take a position on this bill as it does not mandate private businesses accept gold and silver, but rather, leaves it up to employer discretion, ” Megan Davis, a spokesperson for the chamber, said in an email.
Kehoe spokesperson Gabby Picard did not give any indication whether the Republican governor would sign the bill into law. She said in an email that the bill would “receive a thorough review by Governor Kehoe and his team. ”
Receiving change back?
Versions of the bill have been carried by members of the hard-right Missouri Freedom Caucus, a group of Republican senators who have pushed the GOP-controlled General Assembly to be more conservative.
One of the most vocal members of the caucus in recent years, former state Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican , made the bill one of his priorities as he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor last year.
“This is just giving our citizens another option when it comes to how they can pay their bills, ” Eigel told the Star before last year’s legislative session began. “We live in an age where … the dollar is being inflated and abused by our friends up in Washington, D. C. ”
One prominent Democrat, former Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo from Independence, previously called the idea “absurd ” and questioned how it would work in practice, particularly if a shopper paid with gold and wanted their change back.
“So when I go to a gas station and buy a Coke, a 20-ounce Coke, and I’d say, you know, here ’s my gold … Are they gonna give me back money in gold? ” Rizzo told the Star in 2023.
When asked about this at the Capitol this week, Hardwick said that the bill would allow for a new market for electronic and paper methods of payment for gold and silver. With the paper methods, change would still exist like current money does, he said.
“ I think that those things will work themselves out in time, ” he said.
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