Idaho Legislature – VOTE YES on S1338 - State treasurer, gold and silver (Posted: 02/28/26)

• Link: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

• See bill link above for current status and committee assignment

• See Idaho Insider for links where you can send group emails based on current status and committee assignment: gemstatechronicle.com/l…

Summary (ai assisted)

Grok analysis link: grok.com/share/c2hhcmQt…

S1338 allows Idaho’s state treasurer to invest up to 7.5% of idle moneys in physical gold and silver, with specified storage requirements.

Key Amendments

• Adds physical gold and silver as allowable investments for the state.

• Storage must be in a secure depository meeting industry standards, located in Idaho, contiguous states, or Texas; or in a class 1 vault at an Idaho-chartered bank or credit union.

• Requires insurance, independent audits, and physical segregation.

• Limits investment to no more than 7.5% of idle moneys.

Fiscal impact

• No direct impact on General Fund as it only grants permission for Treasurer to diversify existing Idle Money Pool investments into precious metals.

• Some increase may occur to General Fund as investments in bullion may lead to larger returns and serve as a stronger hedge against inflation.

• Transaction cost of buying, selling and storing gold bullion is similar to transaction costs of buying, selling and holding United States Treasury Notes.

• No fiscal impact on local entities because S1338 affects only the State Treasurer.

Reason for Recommendation to VOTE YES

Hedging against dollar weakness via gold and silver bullion holdings enables the state to strengthen its own sovereignty.

Several other states have implemented this alternative in whole or in part, or are considering it, including Texas, Utah, Wyoming. Ohio, Oklahoma, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, New Hampshire, and others (see ChatGPT list here: chatgpt.com/share/69a23…).

Please vote YES (after amending for storage concerns if needed).

Storage Concerns

From the bill: “Storage must be in a secure depository meeting industry standards, located in Idaho, contiguous states, or Texas; or in a class 1 vault at an Idaho-chartered bank or credit union.”

• We’re not sure why S1338 specifies “contiguous states or Texas” except that Texas already has a fully operational vault.

  • What if outside states go rogue and decide to work against Idaho?

  • Shouldn’t we keep Idaho’s gold and silver bullion in Idaho?

  • Eagle, in Idaho’s Treasure Valley near Boise, already has one secure private vault at Money Metals Exchange (see ChatGPT details: chatgpt.com/share/69a23… ).

  ED NOTE
  Idaho legislator Rob Beiswenger (LD8) does work at Money Metals Exchange. But this is not his bill and it’s unlikely he has a conflict of interest.

• A number of banks and credit unions have closed their vaults in recent years.

The full Solari Papers #2 PDF linked below covers storage and ownership issues in detail.

Related

• The Solari Papers #2: U.S. State Bullion Depositories. By Catherine Austin Fitts (01/24/24): solari.com/the-solari-p… | PDF of paper: audio.solari.com/solari…

• Financial Rebellion with Catherine Austin Fitts (chd.tv): live.childrenshealthdef…

• Idaho Legislature 2026 Bills to Support or Oppose: tinyurl.com/yc2jpkeh