Making gold and silver legal tender up to the governor

A bill to make gold and silver coins legal tender in Florida reached Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk last week. If signed, Florida would join a growing list including 10 other states that have passed similar legislation.

The measure would put into state law rules for gold and silver coins adopted by the Department of Financial Services and the Office of Financial Regulation.

The rule changes followed lawmakers’ approval last year of a measure making the precious metal coins legal tender starting July 1, 2026.

The 2025 law exempts qualifying gold and silver coins from sales tax; allows but does not require government entities to accept such coins electronically; and prohibits anyone from being compelled to use or accept such coins.

The governor has until June 24 to act on the legislation.

The Senate voted 31-1 on the measure, with Sen. Kathleen Passidomo of Naples casting the lone vote against. The House approved the proposal with a unanimous vote.

Gold and silver coins, together termed specie, have recently been declared legal tender in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Together, those actions constitute a movement to reassert the monetary status of precious metals. Supporters elsewhere argue that treating investment-grade gold, silver and platinum bullion as taxable retail goods has created uneven competition for domestic dealers against out-of-state and online competitors. Eliminating the tax, they say, encourages domestic investment in physical metals and aligns them more closely with the federal laws governing our fiat money system of base metal coins and paper money The constitutional power to issue currency still resides with Congress.

The legal tender laws allowing specie to be treated as an equal to Federal Reserve notes are said to have the advantage of allowing specie to be used as a hedge against inflation.

The Florida measure is specific on what gold and silver coins would qualify to be recognized as legal tender in the state. To qualify, gold must be at least 99.5% pure and silver mus be at least 99.9% pure.