South Carolina will no longer recognize U.S. currency as legal tender, if State Rep. Mike Pitts has his way.

Pitts, a fourth-term Republican from Laurens, introduced legislation earlier this month that would ban what he calls "the unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for silver and gold coin" in South Carolina.

If the bill were to become law, South Carolina would no longer accept or use anything other than silver and gold coins as a form of payment for any debt, meaning paper money would be out in the Palmetto State.

Pitts said the intent of the bill is to give South Carolina the ability to "function through gold and silver coinage" and give the state a "base of currency" in the event of a complete implosion of the U.S. economic system.

"I'm not one to cry 'chicken little,' but if our federal government keeps spending at the rate we're spending I don't see any other outcome than the collapse of the economic system," Pitts said.

But one legal expert told The Palmetto Scoop that, even if it were passed, Pitts' bill would quickly be ruled unconstitutional.

"It violates a perfectly legal and Constitutional federal law, enacted pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, that federal reserve notes are legal tender for all debts public and private," the expert said. "We settled this debate in the early 1800s. I appreciate the political sentiment but the law is blatantly unconstitutional."

To read the complete article, see:PITTS INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REPLACE PAPER MONEY WITH GOLD, SILVER COINS(www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/02/17/
bill-would-ban-federal-currency-in-sc/)