Representatives in the Washington State legislature have introduced a bill that would move the state into compliance with Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution, requiring only gold and silver be recognized as legal tender. The bill was introduced in the Washington State House of Representatives on Friday by Representatives Matt Shea, Cary Condotta, Jason Overstreet and Jim McCune. A sample of the bill’s text follows:
(1) The legislature finds that to secure property rights sound money is essential. Gold and silver currency retains earned wealth in the hands of the people and has provided civil societies with a fair, honest, and reliable medium of exchange for over six thousand years. Competitive currencies of gold and silver provide greater security to the people of Washington state in protecting their property and other assets from paper currency inflation. The absence of gold and silver coin wrongly exposes the citizens, businesses, and other residents of Washington state to the chronic depreciation of the legal tender fiat paper federal reserve note currency and significant losses in purchasing power which amount to the incremental confiscation of private property without just compensation. The due process clause of the fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Article I, section 3 of the Washington state Constitution, both ensure the protection of life, liberty, and property. Only gold and silver may be recognized as government legal tender under Article I, section 10 of the United States Constitution, which gives the states the power to enact gold and silver based legal
4 tender laws, “no state shall . . .; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Private contracts are not limited to legal tender as furthermore provided in Article I, section 10, “No State shall . . .; pass any bill . . ., or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.”
(2) It is the intent of the legislature that gold and silver used as legal tender are treated in the same manner as United States currency for taxation purposes. The legislature intends to provide a choice of United States constitutional currency of gold and silver and does not intend to compel a person to tender or accept gold or silver. In addition to the United States constitutional authority giving the state’s authority to make gold and silver legal tender, the United States supreme court has held that congress lacks any constitutional power to specify what the states must use as “legal tender” or media of exchange in the exercise of their reserve sovereign function in the following cases: Lane County v. Oregon, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 71 (1869); Hagar v. Reclamation District No. 198, 111 U.S. 701 (1884).
(You can read the entire text of the original bill by clicking the link embedded in the quoted text above.)
The bill was referred to the House Ways & Means Committee on Friday as well.
Washington state joins a growing number of states addressing the current economic crisis by revisiting their Constitutional obligations to support gold and silver as legal tender.
We applaud their efforts and and the people of Washington state for employing responsible representatives.