APOPKA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis while in Apopka on Tuesday signed a bill allowing Floridians to use precious metals for everyday transactions alongside traditional currency.
Under HB 999, gold and silver coins that meet specific purity standards can be used for payments.
WATCH: Florida is first big state to pass law
Florida is the first major state to pass this law.
"We are the first large state to step up and to get this done," DeSantis said. "And this is right out of the Constitution of the United States. So this legislation will authorize money services business like check cashers or PayPal to transmit and accept payment in gold and silver."
State Rep. Bill Bankson from Apopka sponsored the bill. He said it aims to "eliminate the tax burden and make it a functional means of transaction between willing parties."
Bankson also pointed out the value of the dollar has decreased since President Richard Nixon removed it from the gold standard in 1971.
"So, simply it brings opportunity without obligation, fiscal stability and security relief to the taxpayer, can I get an amen?" Bankson said to the crowd at the bill signing, "and will once again help Florida lead the way becoming the gold standard for economic freedom and opportunity."
As the governor and his supporters left the Highland Manor, a small group gathered to protest deportations of immigrants and family separations.
"We just want him to recognize that they're benefiting from our labor," protester Rene Gomez said. "Everything, whether it's food, the hospitals being built, houses, we benefit the economy but we're also human beings so we want to make sure he understood that."
