Last updated on 2023-08-27
House Bill 1193 would amend the arcane provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, a set of laws that all states agreed to adopt in the mid-20th century to make sure we can do business in every state of the Union and trust that contracts will be enforced the same way everywhere. HB 1193 is an illegal multi-subject bill, but that’s never stopped the South Dakota Legislature from passing a law that big business wants.
And boy, does big business want HB 1193. The bankers, retailers, the Chamber, the trusts, and Big Agribusiness—the last represented by Kristi Noem’s favorite lawyer, Matthew McCaulley, lobbying for Farm Credit Services—all testified for HB 1193, met with opposition only from a variety of right-wing whackadoodles who think unregulated cryptocurrency—properly characterized by Senator Lee Schoenbeck as “fake money“—is great but digital currency issued with the full faith and credit of the United States Federal Government is a path to tyranny.
Yet remarkably, Governor Kristi Noem ignored her favorite lawyer and the business community and listened to the whackadoodles and out-of-state political special interests and vetoed HB 1193. The Governor gives three reasons for this veto (she gives only a “First” and “Second”, but her “Second” branches to a separate Third):
First, by expressly excluding cryptocurrencies as money, it would become more difficult to use cryptocurrency. By needlessly limiting this freedom, HB 1193 would put South Dakota citizens at a business disadvantage.
Second, by defining “money” in this proposed way, HB 1193 opens the door to the risk that the federal government could more easily adopt a CBDC [Central Bank Digital Currency], which then may become the only viable digital currency. At this moment in time, such a government-backed electronic currency has not been created. It would be imprudent to create regulations governing something that does not yet exist. More importantly, South Dakota should not open the door to a potential future overreach by the federal government [Gov. Kristi Noem, veto message on 2023 HB 1193, 2023.03.09].
First, Hy-Vee doesn’t let me buy groceries with cryptocurrency, Hy-Vee isn’t suffering any business disadvantage. Besides, all the folks who think they can mine their own money from the Internet are all growing their own groceries, too, right?
If anything, including cryptocurrency as money seems to be putting a lot of folks at a business disadvantage. Noem’s “freedom” seems to entail letting people fall for scams and go broke, which I suppose has some Darwinian appeal but lacks the kind of marketing punch Noem likes for her tweets and campaign fundraising letters. Saying “No, you can’t use Bitcoin like real money” doesn’t seem to infringe on freedom any more than saying, “No, you can’t drink and drive” or “No, you can’t smoke pot” (Uh oh, Kristi….)
Second, Noem stumbles into the vague anti-government nonsense peddled by right-wing radicals about HB 1193. Just like the South Dakota Freedom Caucus, Noem fails to explain why a Central Bank Digital Currency would be so bad. After all, most of us have some Central Bank Paper Currency and Central Bank Metal Currency in our pockets, and most of us have some electronic versions of that Central Bank Currency in our banks and 401ks. Our CBPC and CBMC and CBEC aren’t causing tyranny or cancer or any other gross impingements on freedom. Why is government-backed paper currency or metal currency or bank currency tolerable but government-backed digital currency intolerable? If Governor Noem really believes that the mere threat of Central Bank Digital Currency warrants vetoing a comprehensive update of commercial law, shouldn’t she be cashing out her campaign account and burning those 2.7 million United States Central Bank Dollar bills in a defiant bonfire on the Mansion lawn?
Noem says she’s concerned that Central Bank Digital Currency “may become the only viable digital currency”. But again, what’s wrong with that? Those green slips of paper with their cryptic Illuminati symbols are the only legal tender in America today, and they work fine. Would Noem like us to use Monopoly money to pay for our license plates? Would she like donors to print their own Republibucks on red paper and stuff them in her garter belt when she goes fundraising in Florida and Texas?
HB 1193 wouldn’t make Central Bank Digital Currency the only viable digital currency; the market would, as hundreds of millions of market participants would make the same decision they have with paper currency: the Almighty Dollar, issued under the full faith and credit of the United States of America, is far superior as currency to any fiction peddled by unelected tech bros and other counterfeiters. The crypto-schemers know they can never offer a product as reliable as government money; that’s why they’ve begged Noem not to shut down their freedom to scam by allowing the federal Leviathan into the digital currency arena.
Third, Noem offers the weird and blinkered philosophical position that government shouldn’t make regulations concerning things that don’t exist yet.
Hmm… there are no K-12 teachers in South Dakota teaching Critical Race Theory. Should we not propose any legislation banning the teaching of CRT?
There is no evidence of election fraud in South Dakota. Should we not propose legislation to prevent election fraud?
Noem and South Dakota legislators propose bills dealing with malarkey issues that have not practically arisen yet all the time. Government should not be entirely reactive. We should look ahead, anticipate issues, and have in place regulatory frameworks to deal with foreseeable economic and social developments.
And Central Bank Digital Currency isn’t just foreseeable (because here we are talking about it and predicating vetoes on it); contrary to Noem’s veto-letter assertion, Central Bank Digital Currency does exist. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress Thursday that the United States is a long way from launching a digital currency, but 10 Caribbean nations and Nigeria have launched CBDCs. 18 countries, including India, China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden, are working on pilot CBDC programs. Discussing the merits of government-backed digital currencies and putting regulatory frameworks in place to deal with the CBDCs that are already being tried out makes good sense.
Never ones for good sense, the Freedom Caucus jumps on the China point and issues this Red-Scare ballyhooray for Noem’s veto:
The South Dakota Freedom Caucus profusely thanks Governor Noem for vetoing HB 1193, a bill that would have created a path towards a China-style Central Bank Digital Currency.
At our urging, thousands of South Dakotans have called and written to the Governor warning her of the dangers of this legislation and she has truly listened to the voice of the people [South Dakota Freedom Caucus, press release, 2023.03.09].
(Voice of the people? Who? Where?)
Now we come to the biggest reason this veto is hooey. Freedom Caucusers and now Governor Noem have latched onto this idea that HB 1193 somehow creates a path to Central Bank Digital Currency. That notion seems to be a wild conspiracy theory floated by right-wing Reps. Scott Odenbach and Jon Hansen that the Uniform Law Commission put forward this “sudden” revision and used the 109 sections to hide the one tiny provision that they think will bring the Currencypocalypse, itty-bitty definition #24 in Section 1, a revision of the existing statutory definition of “money” (underscores show the words HB 1193 would add to statute):
(24) “Money” means a medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an intergovernmental organization or by agreement between two or more countries. The term does not include an electronic record that is a medium of exchange recorded and transferable in a system that existed and operated for the medium of exchange before the medium of exchange was authorized or adopted by the government [2023 HB 1193, Section 1(24), vetoed by Gov. Kristi Noem 2023.03.09].
The Freedom Caucusers and now Noem are freaking out over the words “authorized or adopted by the government”. They say the underlined text excludes from “money” any digital currency that hasn’t been approved by the government. But back up, kids: read the existing statute—i.e., SDCL 57A-1-201, definition #24, as the Governor’s veto would leave it, without the revision proposed in HB 1193:
(24) “Money” means a medium of exchange currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an intergovernmental organization or by agreement between two or more countries [SDCL 57A-1-201, definition #24, adopted in 2008 Senate Bill 93].
Right now, South Dakota law already defines money as a medium of exchange currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. I invite the legal scholars in the audience to weigh in, but a facial reading of SDCL 57A-1-201 (and I guarantee you the Freedom Caucus and Governor Noem aren’t reading that law any more deeply that we are this morning) tells me that South Dakota law already recognizes the Central Bank Digital Currencies adopted and authorized by the governments of the Bahamas and Jamaica and South Dakota law is already ready for the United States Federal Government to issue an official government currency and call it money under the Uniform Commercial Code.
So really, this veto doesn’t stop the one thing Governor Noem and the radicals to whom she’s pandering say it stops. It just blocks 109 sections of updates to the Uniform Commercial Code that South Dakota’s bankers and business owners all lined up and said are good ideas.
Related Conspiracy Theorizing: As proof that her veto of HB 1193is just barking for treats from her national audience rather than doing actual good for the people of South Dakota, Governor Noem went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program last night to tout her veto. Carlson led into the interview with this graphic:
The message: Central Bank Digital Currency is a social control plot promoted by The Lizard People. Said Noem to Carlson’s viewers, “I believe it’s to pave a way for the federal government to control our currency and thus control people.”
Noem is a dunce.
Mr. Pay, the Governor, Ms. Noem, vetoed the law bill numbered 1193 which would have banned grudzcoin in South Dakota. None of you who have invested heavily would want that.
South Dakota’s fears are driven only by ignorance and it often it looks like inherent stupidity.
It’s sad when business leaders and bankers ask for 109 revisions to commercial code and are met with, “NO, rurals know a lot better than you about how best to do business in town.”
At some point, America is probably going to turn on its rural people, and start calling them what they are: fundamentally ignorant and easily misled.
I doubt the governor was able to get her VETO brand registered in SD by the SD Brand Board.
It made me laugh when she said she protected us from the government deciding what we can purchase. L o l she is the government and she gets to deny the freedom to purchase and sell property in SD. What a phony. She needs to get it through her synthetic weave that she is the epitome of tyrannical government. She participated in being the federal government for years, and only strengthened it the entire time by taking more and more natural rights from the people by giving corporations the rights to poison the air land and water. Now she dogs the federal government when they are sorely needed to protect people from her overreaching state government. Maybe it is akin to the time she misunderstood the meaning of the word infrastructure. Lordy. She must not be aware of the definition of governor. In America, it should have nothing to do with despotic control of thoughts, morality, private personal interactions, sexuality, literature, learning or worshipping. We do not need governed on those things, like our founders declared in our Bill of Rights. Freedom applies to every American, ma’am.
I’m just confused. Doesn’t the Federal government already print and issue money that is legal tender for all debts public and private? How is this worse?
Nick, it’s pretty simple, the lizard people and George Soros (the one true king of the world) are trying control the people via a new digital currency.
The Bible warns us about this, don’t let it happen or the book of Revelation will come true!
Is anyone else here tired of having and listening in on conversations like this in South Dakota?
I’m not sure there is ever enough talk about lizard people, Mr. Adam.
Your green bills of money lose 2-5% of their value every year because the government is allowed to print money. Inflation is theft of your purchasing power.
A CBDC would give the government MORE power over money. Specifically how, when, where and on what you could spend your money.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. History teaches us that any government in control of its own currency will debase that currency until the civilization/empire collapses.
While I don’t agree with “crypto” you can’t allow laws that would sweep an asset like bitcoin under the “crypto” umbrella. Bitcoin is the only potential technological innovation to solve the government issued and controlled currency problem that has plagued empires all throughout human history. Is it the answer? Difficult to say. But it cannot be swept under an oppressive law. Show me a better solution that doesn’t involve getting a politician involved. Laws can be changed and they can all be corrupted.
More importantly though, no government can be allowed to issue a CBDC. They will say that they will not use it to surveil and control their population, but again…history teaches us that absolutely power corrupts absolutely.
China loves their new CBDC. Gives them wonderful control of their population.
For anyone looking for further resources on the risks of an inflationary monetary system operating in a deflationary technology driven world I’d recommend The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth. Outside of that The Bitcoin Standard is pretty interesting and convincing. Inventing Bitcoin for anyone really looking to understand the tech. Sovereign Individual also good.
Bitcoin is not crypto, but interested parties would like you to believe so. My advice is to read up and listen to many arguments for and against it. I have no idea what will happen with it but it’s important to understand it. CBDC’s grant too much power to government. Hard no for me.
Cheers.
Bitcoin and crpto money is a huge fraud…period.
If [instead of printing more money] one day, the Fed starts to retract cash from circulation to explicitly increase the value of the dollar, conservatives will be nothing but paranoid and conspiratorial talking about how, “world puppet masters are trying to get rid of cash.”
For conservatives, The Fed can never win no matter what it might/could ever do (increase or decrease money supply) – RuralCons nearly all think Fed just needs to be dissolved – and that’s how you can be sure they never learned about why we ever made a Federal Reserve to start with.
It’s just another Rural Political Party problem laden with hypocrisy and failure to understand how/why America truly does work.
to the commenter “Chris”, above: Bitcoin is actually crypto.
Mr. chris is righter-than-right. Bitcoin, just like grudzcoin, is crypto currency. Non-fungible grudztokens (NFgT) are stored on blockchain technology just like Bitcoin, but NFgTs are not currency.
Well, just follow the money. Whatever it is. Republican’s have a great future for every young American woman. Become a grandmother before 40. From the crypto to the crypt. Barefoot and pregnant all the way. Rural America rules.
Pick up a few books on it and come to your own conclusions. That’s all I’m saying. Every person I’ve met who has outright denounced it has never spent the time to learn it and can’t describe it.
Look at Silicon Valley Bank today. How many times do we need to panic over banking contagion until people say “hey maybe there’s a better way to do this whole banking thing. We used to trade shells for money 2000 years ago. We evolved beyond the telegraph. Surely we can evolve beyond banks. No?”
Cheers.
Crypto is best regarded as experimental and not to be swallowed hook, line, and sinker. France realizes as much.
https://crypto.news/banque-de-france-cbdc-securities-settlement/
“The European Central Bank [of which France’s centralized Banque de France in operation since 1800 when set up after the revolution] has told EU banks engaging in crypto business before Jan. 2025 to follow new rules from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
This comes after the committee released a report assigning crypto the highest risk score of all a bank’s assets.”
https://beincrypto.com/ecb-banks-crypto-exposure-hold-capital-reserves/#:~:text=The%20European%20Central%20Banks%20has%20told%20EU%20banks,highest%20risk%20score%20of%20all%20a%20bank%27s%20assets.I
Of course, some maintain such a stance is to head-off threats which would destabilize the Euro. But if stabilization of currency is the issue, such threats must be taken seriously.
“The European Central Bank [of which France’s centralized Banque de France in operation since 1800 when set up after the revolution is a member] has told EU banks engaging in crypto business before Jan. 2025 to follow new rules from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
This comes after the committee released a report assigning crypto the highest risk score of all a bank’s assets.”
https://beincrypto.com/ecb-banks-crypto-exposure-hold-capital-reserves/#:~:text=The%20European%20Central%20Banks%20has%20told%20EU%20banks,highest%20risk%20score%20of%20all%20a%20bank%27s%20assets.I
Of course, some maintain such a stance is to head-off threats which would destabilize the Euro. But if stabilization of currency is the issue, such threats must be taken seriously.
Mark Anderson, what’s wrong with being barefoot and pregnant?
It means a woman gets to be a stay-at-home-mom. Working outside the home, especially while pregnant or nursing, is particularly taxing. Pregnancy after 30 is particularly taxing. Working full time AND being pregnant after 30 is killer. Been there, done that, don’t recommend it.
What’s wrong with being a grandmother before 40? It means being young and healthy enough to enjoy the grandchildren. My grandmother did not become a grandmother until she was 68; I did not become a grandmother until 62. My own grandmother lived to be 94 but that wasn’t long enough to see any great-grandchildren.
Delayed childbearing has its disadvantages. If possible to get all the childbearing done before 30, and be a stay-at-home mom in the process, it’s definitely the preferred way to go.
Chris “2-5% of their value every year” – COMPARED to what?
Chris – follow-up Qs? 1. Define “value”. and 2. How do you treat (psychologically or physically) things that have decreased value (refer to your answer to Q#1 for context) vs things that have maintained or increased value?
(Off topic, but nothing is wrong with being barefoot and pregnant, as long as (1) you have a nice warm house where you don’t have to wear woolen socks, (2) you have health insurance that doesn’t bankrupt you or treat maternity as an excludable pre-existing condition, and (3) you aren’t forced to be barefoot or pregnant by the state or anyone else.)
Mrs. Beal advocating for women’s choices is a sharp turnabout, innit?
Nothing is impossible so everything fungible?
I was cheering on the young creators of Bitcoin because it was the ultimate tongue poking out gesture to big banks and concentrated power. They persevered and got to create a not so new thing nobody can own or charge fees for. Everyone becomes keeper of the blockchain when it is their turn. The serious downside is the toll on the environment and absolute waste of energy. Other than that, nerd victory is heartwarming.
Experts in banking and law say that HB 1193 would actually help folks who use cryptocurrency:
Noem’s veto of HB 1193 thus not only doesn’t stop Central Bank Digital Currency, it also hamstrings private cryptocurrency.
Pander to the right, and you will end up shooting yourself and your economic goals in the foot.
grudzCOIN is environmentally sound. Non-fungible grudzTokens actually absorb carbon.
“…she has truly listened…”
Oh, hallelujah! Truly! How King James does it get? Truly she hath listened and she hath truly heard! Hallelujah!
Money backed by PMs and then all the henchmen stop getting paid. CBDC will eliminate “CASH” no private transactions and then you let the incompetent bankster’s (who are responsible for global banking failure) get more power instead of jail time? Fun they shut your money off and do bail ins when they feel like it? Wake up people enough is enough.