Constitutional Tender Act Passes Missouri House 107-47

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (May 2, 2013) – A bill that would make gold and  silver coin legal tender in Missouri overwhelmingly passed the House Tuesday.

HB421 exempts any capital gains income included in Missouri adjusted gross income from the exchange of gold and silver issued by the federal government at a nonbank depository from state individual and corporate income taxes and allows the use of  silver coins issued by the federal government as legal tender at face value.

The silver coins of the United States are hereby declared a legal tender, at their par value, fixed by the laws of the United States, and shall be receivable in payment of all debts, public or private, hereafter contracted in the state of Missouri; provided, however, that no person shall have the right to pay, upon any one debt, dimes and half dimes to an amount exceeding ten dollars, or of twenty and twenty-five cent pieces exceeding twenty dollars.

The legislation also prohibits the extent and composition of a person’s monetary holdings, including those on deposit with any nonbank depository, from being disclosed, searched, or seized except upon strict adherence to due process safeguards, and creates state regulatory structure. HB421 passed the House 107-47.The bill now moves on to the Senate for consideration. It has not been assigned to a committee.

ACTION ITEMS1. Contact your Senator. If you live in Missouri, contact your senator and ask him or her to support constitutional tender and vote for HB421. You can find Senate contact information HERE.

2. Share this information widely. Please pass this along to your friends and family. Also share it with any and all grassroots groups you’re in contact with around the state. Please encourage them to email this information to their members and supporters.

LEGISLATION AND TRACKING

If you’re outside of Arizona, please contact your own legislators regarding Constitutional Tender legislation. If none has been introduced in your state, you can email them the model legislation HERE.

Track the status of the Constitutional Tender Act in states around the country HERE.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Currently all debts and taxes in Arizona and the rest of the United States are either paid with Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) which were authorized as legal tender by Congress, or with coins issued by the U.S. Treasury — very few of which have gold or silver in them.

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 Constitutional tender act is a big step towards that constitutional requirement which has been ignored for a long time in every state of the country. Such a tactic would achieve the desired goal of abolishing the Federal Reserve system by attacking it from the bottom up – pulling the rug out from under it by working to make its functions irrelevant at the State and local level.

Passage of the Constitutional/Legal Tender Act would introduce currency competition with Federal Reserve Notes. Professor William Greene explains further:

“Over time, as residents of the State use both Federal Reserve Notes and silver and gold coins, the fact that the coins hold their value more than Federal Reserve Notes do will lead to a “reverse Gresham’s Law” effect, where good money (gold and silver coins) will drive out bad money (Federal Reserve Notes). As this happens, a cascade of events can begin to occur, including the flow of real wealth toward the State’s treasury, an influx of banking business from outside of the State – as people in other States carry out their desire to bank with sound money – and an eventual outcry against the use of Federal Reserve Notes for any transactions.”

Once things get to that point, Federal Reserve notes would become largely unwanted and irrelevant for ordinary people. Nullifying the Fed on a state by state level is what will get us there.

Without a single act of Congress, the Federal Reserve system can be brought to its knees by passing such bills in states all over the country.