That a joint subcommittee be appointed to study whether the Commonwealth should adopt a currency to serve as an alternative to the currency distributed by the Federal Reserve System in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System.
The joint subcommittee shall consist of eight legislative members who shall be appointed as follows: five members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates in accordance with the principles of proportional representation contained in the Rules of the House of Delegates and three members of the Senate to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. The joint subcommittee shall elect a chairman and vice-chairman from among its membership.
In conducting its study, the joint subcommittee shall call or hear from such witnesses and take such other evidence as it deems appropriate and shall consider recommendations for legislation, with respect to the need, means, and schedule for establishing such an alternative currency.
If enacted, the joint subcommittee will have to submit its report to the General Assembly by November 30, 2011.
Legislation to allow silver or gold to be used as an alternative currency for the payment of taxes ("Honest Money") is being researched in Ohio.
3 comments:
One potential problem: Article I, Section 10 says, "No State shall... coin Money [or] emit Bills of Credit". If this panel ends up recommending that Virginia print its own currency, it will be in violation of "emitting bills of credit". If it recommends that they create their own coins, the State will be in violation of "coining Money".
It would be better to simply introduce a version of the Constitutional Tender Act, which would bring back the State's use of Sound Money by enforcing that same Article I, Section 10: "No State shall... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts".
Bill G.
Bill G.:
There is another option: Virginia could issue currency backed by gold or silver on deposit in the state treasury (not denominated in dollars, for obvious reasons, and clearly not a "bill of credit").
Or Virginia could use pre-1965 U.S. silver coin as a state currency. I have proposed this for Ohio, dubbing the currency unit the "buckeye sterling."
Either approach should pass Constitutional muster.
Read the rest of Article 1, Section 10 where it says...make anything but gold or silver coin a tender in payment..."Looks like the nation is already in violation of this Article. Maybe Virginia can get everyone re-focused.
Kristen
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