The House passed HB1718 by an 82-8 vote. The Senate concurred with a vote of 32-0. With Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s signature, the bill went into effect on July 31.
“Specie” is defined as a “coin having gold or silver content; or refined gold or silver bullion that is coined, stamped, or imprinted with its weight and purity and valued primarily based on its metal content and not its form.” Under the law, specie will include coins issued by the U.S. government or “other specie that an Arkansas court rules to be within state authority to make or designate as legal tender.”
By allowing the court to designate additional specie to be used as legal tender, Arkansas could free its citizens from potential supply constraints imposed by the use of only United States-minted gold and silver coin. More importantly, the people of the state of Arkansas will be able to define what specie is considered constitutional tender, further distancing themselves from potential control of their competing currency by Washington D.C.
Arkansas is now the fourth state to recognize gold and silver as legal tender. Utah led the way, reestablishing constitutional money in 2011. Wyoming and Oklahoma have since joined.
The effect has been most dramatic in Utah where the legal tender law opened the door for the development of a gold and silver market in the state. With some legal hurdles cleared away by the state, the United Precious Metal Association (UPMA) in partnership with Alpine Gold Exchange set up the state’s first “gold bank.” The Utah Specie Legal Tender Act has also led to the creation of Goldbacks, a local, voluntary medium of exchange. Goldbacks are notes made from fractions of an ounce of physical gold. The company created a process that turns pure gold into a spendable physical form for small transactions.
