Missourians could soon pay with gold and silver after lawmakers approve odd bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Shoppers across Missouri could soon be able to pay for their groceries and pay taxes with gold and silver.

Missouri lawmakers this week, in a move that surprised some, approved a controversial bill that would make gold and silver legal tender in the state. The legislation, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly as an amendment to a sweeping finance-related bill, is headed to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk.

The Republican-led legislation would require state government entities to accept electronic versions of gold and silver, called “electronic specie currency,” as forms of payment for taxes and public debts. While the measure would not require businesses to accept gold and silver as payment for private uses, such as groceries, it would allow them to do so.

“The goal is about restoring economic and political freedom back to everyday 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 legislation is one of the more unusual bills considered by state lawmakers in recent years and earned only a passing mention during a House floor debate this week. Its passage this year came as a surprise to some in the state Capitol, as critics have scoffed at the idea and raised numerous questions about how it would work in practice.

State Rep. Kemp Strickler, a Kansas City Democrat, said he opposed the language of the bill dealing with gold and silver. However, he supported other parts of the larger legislation and ultimately voted “present.”

“Not a fan of that part of it,” Strickler said. “Assuming it gets signed, we’re in the ‘how do we implement’ stage.”

The full text of the bill was still not available online Wednesday, more than 24 hours after passing through the General Assembly. However, the amendment, reviewed by the Star, would require the Missouri Department of Revenue to craft rules on how to implement the law after it would take effect in August if signed by Kehoe.

Strickler said the bill’s passage was both concerning and surprising. He anticipated that many local businesses would choose not to accept gold and silver as forms of payment.

“I would think this would be a huge challenge for private businesses,” he said.

Lawmakers have filed versions of the legislation, often called the “Constitutional Money Act,” over the past several years. The bills have received backing from the Missouri Freedom Initiative, a grassroots organization that supports right-wing issues such as lower taxes, gun rights, school choice and anti-abortion causes.

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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