The Minnesota SF 3175: Bullion Product Dealers Regulation Authorization was recently signed by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. This major legislative effort, led by the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA), reforms the most troublesome law for coin dealers in modern memory.
The state’s “Bullion Coin Dealer Law,” which was passed in 2013, applied to dealers at all levels of the industry and throughout the country, and imposed onerous regulations that were impossible to comply according to ICTA’s Chairman, Harry Miller, “Most coin dealers in the U.S. probably had no idea they were subject to this Minnesota law. But many were affected, even those who thought they had never done business in the state, because of the broad way in which the law was written.”
This new legislation was successfully led by ICTA, which spent more than $160,000 in legal fees and lobbying representation. The organization also met with elected officials, sent hundreds of letters and emails, held many meetings with the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and worked with key legislators Rep. Joe Hoppe (R-Chaska) and Sen. Dave Tomassoni (D-Chisholm).
The result was an amended law that addresses the more troubling aspects of the BCDL, revising the law to:
- REVISE the definition of a Minnesota consumer to a practical, common-sense standard that dealers can apply in real time
- EXCLUDE transactions with Minnesota consumers that occur at coin shows or other locations outside the state, unless the product is shipped to a Minnesota address
- INCREASE the threshold for registration from $5,000 a year to $25,000 and limit the transactions that count against the threshold to transactions with Minnesota consumers, thus reducing the number of small dealers who are subject to the law’s requirements must
- ELIMINATE a requirement for dealers to calculate a rolling 12-month total of transactions when calculating the threshold amount
Congratulations to ICTA for there success. For the complete list of revisions, visit click here.