Restore Sound Money in Oklahoma

Members of the Oklahoma Legislature are seeking to enact legislation helping restore sound money and enforce the U.S. Constitution’s monetary provisions.

The following bills have been introduced:

• Senate Bill 2058 (SB 2058), sponsored by Senator Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin), would expand Oklahoma’s recognition of gold and silver as legal tender, create a gold depository and exempt precious metals from all state taxes.
• House Bill 1199 (HB 1199), sponsored by Representative Cody Maynard (R-Durant), would expand Oklahoma’s recognition of gold and silver as legal tender. HB 1199 passed the House and is pending in the Senate.
• Senate Bill 33 (SB 33) is sponsored by Senator David Bullard (R-Durant). If enacted, it would create a state bullion depository, which would store precious metals — both held by the state and by private citizens.
• House Bill 1197 (HB 1197), sponsored by Representative Maynard, would create a transactional currency backed by gold and silver. HB 1197 passed the House and is pending in the Senate.
• Senate Bill 284 (SB 284), sponsored by Senator Shane Jett (R-Tecumseh), would abolish capital-gains taxes on gold and silver and clarify the legal definition of precious metals as legal tender, making it easier to use gold and silver as currency in Oklahoma, including when making transactions with government agencies.
• Senate Bill 581 (SB 581), sponsored by Senator Deevers, would allow employees to request payment in gold or silver, create a bullion depository and exempt precious metals from income taxes.

These bills are great steps toward enforcing the Constitution’s monetary provisions. Article I, Section 10, of the U.S. Constitution plainly states that “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” It’s long overdue that states begin to enforce this provision once again.

Additionally, these bills are an important step toward nullifying the unconstitutional Federal Reserve, which has a monopoly on money, and also reducing Oklahoma’s financial dependence on the federal government. It will also help Oklahoma avoid the federal government’s planned “Central Bank Digital Currencies,” which severely threaten privacy and individual freedom.

Article VI of the U.S. Constitution obligates state officials to uphold the Constitution and nullify all laws not “made in Pursuance” of it. Officials at all levels of government must push back against the federal government’s many unconstitutional laws and agencies, and robustly enforce the Constitution and only those laws “made in Pursuance thereof.” HB 1197, HB 1199, SB 33, and SB 284 are great models for other states to follow.

Urge your state representative and senator to support SB 2058, HB 1197, HB 1199, SB 581, SB 33, and SB 284, and to fully restore sound money in Oklahoma.