Senate committee advances bill letting treasurer net fees on precious-metal holdings

Representative Ivory, the bill sponsor, told a Senate committee that House Bill 67 is “a cleanup bill from last year” that formalizes how the state treats administrative costs for precious-metal investments made from the rainy day fund. He said the fees for buying and holding precious metals are handled differently than traditional ETFs and noted the investments have performed well: “the return has been quite astounding if you're following gold.”

Treasurer Oaks told the committee that the change would let the treasurer net ordinary administrative costs — vaulting, insurance and audits — against interest earnings on the fund, mirroring how management fees are handled across other portfolios. “We're taking the administrative costs of holding precious metals like vaulting, insurance and audits and netting those fees against the interest earnings of the rainy day funds,” Oaks said.

After the presentations the committee moved the bill for a favorable recommendation. Senator Brammer raised a procedural question about whether the bill had a Senate sponsor listed in the system; committee members confirmed the floor sponsor appears as Senator Kevin Stratton on the chair’s copy of the docket. The motion to advance House Bill 67 was then called and passed by voice vote; the chair announced the result as unanimous, recorded 4–0 in favor.

The bill, as described to the committee, would allow the treasurer to recover the cost of acquiring precious-metal investments out of the invested funds rather than requiring a separate appropriation for those administrative expenses. No public testimony was recorded on the item during the committee’s public comment period and no amendments were offered or adopted during the session.