Urgent Action Alert!
Monday, March 11, 2024
Missouri’s HB 2780, sponsored by Rep. Justin Hicks, adds a new article to and amends the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in ways that could be harmful to personal liberty and privacy rights.
This bill, written by a third party, would fundamentally change the financial definitions in Missouri’s Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) statutes, the comprehensive set of laws that governs ALL commercial transactions in the United States. This bill sets up a framework for contract payments using digital currency — but ONLY that which the government authorizes. It redefines “money”, “person”, and over a dozen key financial terms and authorizes biometrics and UNKOWN, emerging technologies. This new definition of digital currency in the UCC would streamline the process of the adoption of CBDCs in all states.
A centralized, federal digital currency means the government could have complete control over ALL transactions — think vaccine passports.
Though this bill is not explicitly promoting a Central Bank Digital Currency, it is saying that the ONLY digital currency the UCC laws will legally recognize as “electronic payment” must be “issued by the government”. HB 2780 lays the groundwork for CBDC. It’s like building a highway, even though you might not have the cars to run on it.
Proponents claim that HB 2780 update brings the UCC into the modern, digital world and if we don’t pass it Missouri will be left behind. This is to induce an element of urgency when we have actually been using digital currency for years. It’s just that private digital currencies are a threat to central banks because they can’t control them, just like they can’t control – or capture – gold, silver, and cash. So the purpose of this bill is to gain control.
The central banks want to encapsulate all of our financial transactions. They don’t want us to be able to make transactions outside of their system.
Creating an infrastructure for CBDCs through the UCC, then claiming that it has nothing to do with a centralized digital currency, is a well-played tactic. The idea is to make these changes toward centralization in stages — to standardize systems, then create &/or commandeer the NGOs that provide the expertise or service. That way very few people can influence entire systems.
Here are a few examples:
-Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)…ERIC was started with George Soros grant money. ERIC conducted a mass data gathering operation and the irony is Missouri taxpayers paid them to do it under the guise of convenience and expertise.
-Municipal building codes are standardized through the International Code Council. Many municipalities frequently update codes not knowing the poison baked into the updates.
-Our STATE drivers license is now outsourced to an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) through a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). Do you have any idea what the NGO does with your high resolution DL photograph that’s formatted for facial recognition?
HB 2780 will also…
– Create status, standing and jurisdiction for “choice of law,” in the District of Columbia.
– Create new language that will require comprehensive knowledge of coding, law, and international contract law that is neither plain, nor equal among the laymen.
– Create significant gaps in the current understanding of tangible collateral currently held by debtors.
– Create an infrastructure for Central Bank Digital Currency without regulatory framework in place.
Where Did These UCC Changes Come From?
The Uniform Law Commission, a Chicago-based non-profit, is responsible for writing and updating the UCC code. The new amendments were written the summer of 2022 and rolled out to all states over the months that followed. Legislators were even told to “not read the bills”, that it was just a routine update.
Bills amending the UCC code have been filed in over 20 states.
Fortunately, legislators are waking up to what these UCC code changes actually do. Last year, South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem vetoed their UCC bill, HB 1193 which was almost identical to Missouri’s 2780. It died two weeks later when the S.D. legislature failed to override her veto.
Governor Noem said in the days following her veto,
“It is being sold as a UCC guidelines update, but it essentially says that the only authorized digital currency would be the federal government’s.” — S.D. Governor Kristi Noem, March 9, 2023
What should Missouri legislators do?
We should not create a path forward on digital currency until we have:
- Regulatory framework in place, and
- A clear idea of what type of CBDC we’re looking to adopt as a country.
Many states have not enacted the bill, there’s time for the legislature to study it. Practitioners and legal scholars have not had time to digest and interpret it, there is uncertainty as to its effect. More time is needed by everyone to study this complex legislation.
Immedate Call to Action!
Please call these members of the Special Committee on Public Policy and urge them to vote NO on HB 2780. Please call before the committee meets to vote at 9am Tues. March 12th!
Rep Terry Thompson
1-573-751-1462
Terry.Thompson@house.mo.gov
Rep Mark Sharp
1-573-751-0238
Mark.Sharp@house.mo.gov
Rep Brad Hudson
1-573-751-3851
Brad.Hudson@house.mo.gov
Rep Dan Houx
1-573-751-3850
Dan.Houx@house.mo.gov
Rep Hannah Kelly
1-573-751-2205
Hannah.Kelly@house.mo.gov
Rep Jeff Knight
1-573-751-1490
Jeff.Knight@house.mo.gov
Rep Robert Sauls
1-573-751-5701
Robert.Sauls@house.mo.gov