The Utah Sound Money Act

In summary this bill proposes that Gold and Silver can be used as legal tender in the state of Utah, for payment of taxes, debts or trade. This will run alongside the US Dollar and is justified by the US Constitution.

Watch this space to see when it goes before the Senate as it represents the start of a new monetary era where the dollar (and other currencies like the British Pound) will devalue at even faster rates against Gold & Silver!

The Utah Sound Money Act

To amend Title 7 of the Utah Code Annotated, relating to financial institutions, so as to provide a short title; to authorize gold and silver coin as legal tender for payment of debts within the course and scope of Utah intrastate commerce; and to authorize the formation and operation of coin depositories.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE UTAH STATE LEGISLATURE:

SECTION 1.

Title 7 of the Utah Code Annotated, relating to financial institutions, is amended by adding a new chapter to read as follows:

CHAPTER 25

7-25-1. Short Title.

This Chapter is known and may be cited as “The Utah Sound Money Act.”

7-25-2. Authorization of Specie Currency.

  1. The following coinage (hereinafter referred to as “specie currency”) described in the United States Internal Revenue Code sections referenced below (as existing on the date of this Chapter’s enactment) constitute authorized legal tender for payment of debts within the course and scope of Utah intrastate commerce:
    1. The United States gold and silver coinage described in Title 26 of the United States Code, §408(m)(3)(A)(i) and §408(m)(3)(A)(ii);
    2. The state gold and silver coinage described in Title 26 of the United States Code, §408(m)(3)(A)(iv) which is authorized for issuance into Utah intrastate commerce pursuant to Subsection (4), below (hereinafter referred to as “Utah specie currency”); and
    3. The foreign gold and silver coinage described in Title 26 of the United States Code §408(m)(3)(B).
  2. Specie currency shall be denominated in troy ounce and grain monetary units, there being 480 troy grains contained in one troy ounce.
  3. As legal tender money, specie currency shall not be characterized as personal property for taxation or regulatory purposes.
  4. Utah specie currency shall only be issued or reissued into intrastate circulation by an authorized coin depository which, prior to such issuance, shall have inspected, assayed and approved each coin as being in conformity with the following criteria:
    1. Each coin shall have a millesimal gold or silver fineness of no less than 850.
    2. On the obverse side of each coin the year of production shall be clearly visible. The mint mark of the manufacturer shall be visible on the obverse side as well.
    3. On the reverse side, the coin’s precious metal content in troy ounces shall be clearly written and the corresponding number of troy grains shall be prominently displayed as an integer. In addition, the words “Utah Legal Tender” shall be inscribed on this side.
    4. No coin shall bear any dollar denomination nor any resemblance whatsoever to the current or prior coin of the United States.
    5. Every coin shall conform to all other designs and specifications adopted by the Utah Coinage Advisory Council which shall be composed of one representative from each of the following groups:
      1. The Utah Arts Council;
      2. The Utah Bar Association;
      3. The Utah Banker’s Association;
      4. The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce; and
      5. The Utah Chapter of the American Numismatic Association.
    6. Only one design for each denomination of gold Utah specie currency and one for each denomination of silver Utah specie currency shall be authorized for production in any given calendar year.
  5. No person shall have the right to compel any other person to tender or to accept specie currency en lieu of United States dollars unless such person has previously agreed in writing to do so or as otherwise provided in this Chapter.
  6. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed so as to abrogate or in any way limit the inherent and inalienable right, as recognized and affirmed in article 1, § 1 of the Utah Constitution, of persons to use any gold or silver coin as a medium of exchange as well as to acquire, produce, hold, protect and otherwise exchange the same or any other type of property, in any amount whatsoever, within the lawful course and scope of Utah intrastate commerce.

7-25-3. Authorization and Organization of Coin Depositories

  1. Subject to Subsection (7), the commissioner may authorize a person described in Subsection (2) to conduct business as a coin depository.
  2. Each person authorized to conduct the business of a coin depository in this state shall be organized under and governed pursuant to the provisions of Title 48, Chapter 2c, Utah Revised Limited Liability Company Act, except as otherwise provided in this title.
  3. Coin depositories authorized under this Chapter are hereby expressly exempt from the provisions of Title 13, Chapter 32a, entitled “The Pawnshop and Secondhand Merchandise Transaction Information Act”.
  4. Each coin depository shall file reports of its condition in accordance with Section 7-1-318.
  5. Every coin depository authorized under this Chapter qualifies as a “bank” as that term is defined in Title 26 of the United States Code, §408(n).
  6. Every coin depository authorized under this Chapter shall at all times maintain specie currency reserves in an amount equal to or exceeding the aggregate of all specie currency deposits existing at the coin depository.
  7. No coin depository may conduct business under this Chapter unless all deposits held by such coin depository are insured against theft and loss.

7-25-4. Deposit Accounts.

  1. No coin depository shall offer or maintain any deposit accounts denominated in any currency other than specie currency.
  2. No coin depository shall commingle in the same account gold specie currency deposits with silver specie currency deposits.
  3. In order to facilitate currency exchanges, a deposit account at a coin depository may be linked to a dollar-denominated deposit account established at any Utah bank or credit union chartered under this Title.
  4. Currency exchanges effected between any coin depository, bank or credit union organized and authorized under the provisions of this Title shall be entirely tax free and treated for all purposes as transactions wholly within the course and scope of Utah intrastate commerce.
  5. No currency exchanges between United States dollars and specie currency shall be deemed or construed to result in any ordinary or capital gain, profit or loss.
  6. Deposit accounts opened as individual retirement accounts, as well as any dollar-denominated accounts linked thereto, shall comply with all applicable provisions of section 408 of the United States Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 408).
  7. All withdrawals from deposit accounts, other than those effectuated by currency exchanges or by electronic transfers pursuant to express depositor instructions, shall be paid out in Utah specie currency.
  8. Coin depositories shall employ all appropriate and necessary measures for the physical security of specie currency deposits, as well as for safeguarding all information regarding each depositor’s identity and the extent of their deposits.
  9. Depositor’s specie currency deposits, together with their identifying information shall only be subject to disclosure, search or seizure upon issuance of a lawful warrant or writ by a judicial officer of this state pursuant to an adequate showing of probable cause with respect to the particular depositor in question. Such warrant or writ shall be executed only under the authority of the duly elected sheriff for the county within which such depository is located.

7-25-5. Constitutionality.

  1. If any one or more part, provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this Chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is found to be unconstitutional, the same is hereby declared to be severable and the balance of this Chapter shall remain effective notwithstanding such unconstitutionality.
  2. The legislature hereby declares that it would have passed this Chapter, and each part, provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or word be declared unconstitutional.

SECTION 2.

This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage into law