Committee hears bill to recognize gold and silver as legal tender, and to exclude CBDC; regulators warn of banking, tax and consumer risks

Representative Nathan Thalmann, District 34, introduced House Bill 1441 to the Industry, Business and Labor Committee, saying the measure "seeks to define gold and silver as legal tender" and to define terms including "specie" and central bank digital currency (CBDC). Thalmann told the committee the bill is not intended to create state currency and that he would offer an amendment to prevent anyone from being compelled to accept specie in ordinary transactions.

Citizen supporter Patrick Hansen testified that the bill would protect residents from a prospective CBDC and offer private options to hold and spend gold or silver. "I believe Utah, Indiana, and Florida ... are considering it also," Hansen said, and described private debit‑card programs that let users spend holdings of gold and silver stored with third‑party providers.

Lisa Cruz, commissioner of the Department of Financial Institutions, testified in opposition and warned of practical and regulatory problems if the bill becomes law as written. Cruz said legal tender status could require banks and credit unions to accept specie for debt repayment and would complicate balance‑sheet reporting because precious metal instruments fluctuate in value. She told the committee that the bill’s proposed definition of legal tender would expand the department’s money‑transmitter oversight to include transactions in gold and silver and that the office lacks in‑house capacity to authenticate third‑party bullion instruments.

"Banks and credit unions are required to have fair value expressed in dollars on their balance sheet," Cruz said, and adding specie as legal tender would make valuation and authenticity checks difficult for supervised institutions and for regulators.

Rick Kleberg, president and CEO of the North Dakota Bankers Association, also testified in opposition but offered amendment language the association favors. Kleberg said the legislature has previously limited how digital dollars are treated in state law and asked that the bill explicitly exclude only a U.S. central bank digital currency from the definition of digital currency, not foreign digital currencies used by trading partners. He also said the bill should include a clause stating "No person shall be required to offer or accept specie legal tender ... nor shall any person incur liability for refusing to offer or accept any such legal tender except specifically provided by contract." Kleberg said that caveat is common in other states’ measures.

Matt Pearl of the Office of the State Tax Commissioner asked for a statutory clarification on how acceptance of specie should be treated for sales and income tax purposes — specifically whether a seller accepting gold or silver would be subject to income tax on the value received.

No committee vote was taken. The committee closed the hearing on HB 1441 and held the bill over for committee work.