TALLAHASSEE, Fla — Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Tuesday, stating gold and silver coins can be used as legal currency in the state of Florida.
HB 999 states, "the person who claims the sales tax exemption bears the burden for determining whether the gold or silver coin meets a specified definition." Retailers can determine if they would like to accept the coins as payment in their establishments.
The bill states that the coins must be minted and stamped to indicate their purity. Purchases of the metals would also be exempt from sales taxes.
HB 999 was first filed in Feb. 2025 and was passed by the Senate in April 2025. The House passed the bill on May 23 before it made its way to the governor's desk on May 27.
The bill will take effect on July 1, 2026.

How journalists battle the rise of AI fake news
As News Literacy Week kicks off in partnership with Scripps News, Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska sat down with fact-checkers at PolitiFact to learn how they combat misinformation in the age of AI.