(Boise, Idaho) -- Lawmakers in the Idaho Senate have voted to empower the state treasurer to invest state funds in physical gold and silver.
This measure would permit – but not require – the Treasurer to hold some portion of state funds in physical gold and silver to help secure state assets against the risks of inflation and financial turmoil and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes. The Treasurer currently has only a few options for holding, managing, and investing Idaho’s “idle moneys” (which currently amount to several billion dollars).
Because of market conditions and statutory constraints, Idaho’s reserves are invested almost exclusively in low-yielding debt paper – such as corporate bonds, tax-anticipation notes, municipal bonds, repurchase agreements, CDs, treasuries, and money market funds. These debt instruments appear to have low volatility, but they carry other risks – including pernicious inflation and the steady erosion in real value of principal, coupled with interest rates that are negative in real terms.
House Bill 180 bill does not grant authority to buy stocks, futures contracts, or other financial instruments.
This bill will now be referred to a House committee, where it will receive a hearing.
More than a dozen states have introduced pro-sound money legislation in 2024 so far, including Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Vermont, and West Virginia.
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