OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Cody Maynard, R-Durant, on Monday passed a bill in the House that would allow the establishment of transactional gold and silver depository in Oklahoma.

House Bill 1197 would allow the state treasurer to either establish a depository in the state or contract with a third-party vendor to give citizens the option of buying and depositing gold or silver and to use a transaction card to spend their assets.

"This would give our citizens an additional option for saving and transacting in a way that protects against inflation and economic uncertainty," Maynard said. "This measure would establish Oklahoma as the first state to allow a person to use their gold or silver as a spendable asset."

Maynard explained that about $800 billion in gold exists in the United States that currently is not usable by the average citizen. This legislation unlocks the resource, giving citizens purchasing power and could allow local banks to tie into the transactional aspect of the process. He said software already exists to allow the types of calculating necessary to determine the current price of gold or silver and convert it to U.S. dollars.

He said gold and silver have been recognized as a type of money for more than 5,000 years. The U.S. Constitution leaves the matter of gold and silver being used as legal tender to the states, and this allows the state to exercise this right on behalf of the citizens who wish to use it in this way.

HB1197 now moves to the Senate where it is authored by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant.