Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to provide that idle moneys may be invested in physical gold and silver in certain instances, to provide for storage of physical gold and silver, and to provide for a maximum allowed investment.

Since the year 2000, the M2 money supply has grown by 350 percent. In other words, it has more than quadrupled. A quadrupling of the money supply will eventually accelerate the rate of inflation. By adding physical gold and silver to Idaho Code § 67-1210, the State Treasurer will be permitted to hold some portion of state funds in physical gold and silver to help secure state assets against the risk of inflation and financial turmoil and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes. The new authority will be confined to holding gold and silver directly and in a manner that does not assume the counter party risks involved with other current state holdings, such as corporate bonds, treasury bills, and other debt instruments. This measure does not empower the State Treasurer to invest in paper forms of the metal like futures contracts, or other gold and silver derivatives. The authority is confined to physical gold and silver, directly owned by the state and stored in a secure depository or any bank or credit union with a class 1 vault and licensed by the Department of Finance.