Abbott Signs Law That Quietly Undermines the Fed—Did Texas Just Declare Financial Independence?
Gov. Greg Abbott Signs HB 1056: Texas Lays Groundwork for Financial Sovereignty in Push Against Federal Overreach
Austin, TX – A new law that has received little attention from the mainstream media may prove to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in Texas history. Governor Greg Abbott quietly signed House Bill 1056 into law on June 20, 2025. The bill, championed by Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio), authorizes the Texas State Comptroller to invest state funds in precious metals—including gold and silver—and even to receive payments in those metals.
While seemingly a narrow fiscal policy bill at first glance, HB 1056 could signal something far more significant: a calculated step toward insulating Texas from federal economic instability and laying the groundwork for financial independence. Some constitutional conservatives and proponents of the Texas sovereignty movement are hailing the bill as a landmark moment in the long march toward a truly sovereign Texas.
What HB 1056 Actually Does
HB 1056 permits the Texas Comptroller to accept gold or silver as payment for state services and taxes, and it explicitly empowers the Comptroller to invest state holdings in precious metals. Notably, the law allows the state to store and manage its bullion within the Texas Bullion Depository, a facility that has quietly grown in significance since its establishment in 2015.
Texas is the only U.S. state to operate its own bullion depository—a fact many in the media have dismissed or ignored. But for lawmakers and citizens who view Washington, D.C. as bloated, irresponsible, and even hostile to traditional American values, HB 1056 is not just about monetary diversification. It’s about survival.
Why This Matters: Sovereignty Through Sound Money
For decades, the U.S. dollar has been decoupled from any hard asset. Since President Nixon officially closed the gold window in 1971, the dollar has been backed only by the “full faith and credit” of the federal government—an increasingly unstable foundation, given Washington’s $34 trillion national debt, inflationary monetary policy, and a weaponized financial system.
HB 1056 offers Texas an escape hatch.
“Gold and silver are real money—Biblical money, Constitutional money,” said Rep. Dorazio during the bill’s floor debate. “If we want Texas to be resilient to federal mismanagement and abuse, we need to hold real assets that Washington can’t inflate away.”
Though Texas isn’t leaving the Union tomorrow, proponents of Texit or other sovereignty measures see HB 1056 as a concrete step toward de-risking the state’s financial position. By increasing its holdings in gold and silver, Texas shields itself from dollar devaluation, Fed monetary policy misfires, and potential banking instability. In short: the bill is a hedge against a system spiraling out of control.
Building a Financial Ark
For years, economists have warned that the Federal Reserve’s endless money-printing—whether through quantitative easing, pandemic bailouts, or more recently, Green New Deal-style stimulus—has created a massive bubble in the U.S. economy. Inflation continues to outpace wage growth. Americans are losing purchasing power at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, federal regulators have openly floated the idea of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which critics argue could usher in an Orwellian level of financial surveillance and control.
HB 1056 plants a Texas flag firmly against that tide.
By investing state wealth in hard assets, Texas is functionally building its own financial ark. This legislation, coupled with the infrastructure of the Texas Bullion Depository, positions the Lone Star State to establish an alternative monetary system if and when the U.S. dollar falters.
“If the federal government continues down its current path, there may come a time when Texans need to rely on something other than the dollar,” said Thomas R., an economic policy analyst and longtime advocate for decentralization. “Texas is preparing for that eventuality, and HB 1056 is one piece of that puzzle.”
Constitutional and Historical Foundation
The United States Constitution itself permits states to make gold and silver legal tender (Article I, Section 10). HB 1056 takes this principle off the parchment and applies it to the 21st century.
Texas, with its independent streak and unique legal status as a formerly sovereign republic, is well positioned to reclaim the concept of sound money. HB 1056 doesn’t just allow the use of precious metals; it institutionalizes it. Over time, this may lead to the formation of parallel financial systems within the state—systems not reliant on fiat currency or federal institutions.
This legislative direction also dovetails with other sovereignty-minded efforts in Texas. From border security initiatives where the state has challenged federal inaction, to legislative proposals pushing back on ESG mandates and federal overreach in education, the broader picture is emerging: Texas is charting a course that anticipates national instability.
A Path to Wealth and Independence
There’s a strong economic argument to be made for this new law as well. As the state moves more of its investments into hard assets, it not only reduces exposure to inflation, but also increases the potential for asset appreciation. Gold and silver have historically held or increased their value during times of economic uncertainty, war, and inflation—conditions that are increasingly becoming the norm.
By becoming a regional center for precious metal transactions and storage, Texas could attract a wave of capital, commerce, and innovation. The state is already home to energy wealth, agriculture, tech, and manufacturing. Now it’s laying the foundations to become a monetary safe haven as well.
Texans may soon be able to pay their property taxes in silver rounds or buy government services with bullion-backed accounts. This shift isn’t merely symbolic—it’s functional.
And should the federal government move toward implementing a CBDC that tracks, controls, or restricts spending based on political views or “carbon footprints,” Texas will have already created an off-ramp.
National Reaction: Silence or Skepticism
Unsurprisingly, national media outlets have ignored the passage of HB 1056, and few in D.C. are willing to engage the implications. But that silence may itself be telling.
“I think they’re hoping if they don’t talk about it, it won’t catch on,” said a former Treasury Department official who now consults on state-level finance issues. “But Texas isn’t alone. Other states are watching this closely—Utah, Wyoming, even Florida.”
The Quiet Revolution
HB 1056 wasn’t signed with fanfare. No parades. No press tour. No national interviews. But that may have been intentional.
Like so many of Texas’ most impactful political decisions, this law was signed quietly, methodically—another brick in the fortress being built around the Lone Star State’s autonomy.
“This is not secession,” said Rep. Dorazio. “This is preparation.”
The coming years may reveal whether that preparation was prophetic—or essential.
(The Center Square) – By Bethany Blankley, with analysis by Michael Pipkins
Texas once again leads the nation in job creation, shattering employment records in August, according to the latest data reported by The Center Square. The numbers reveal more than just raw job growth—they tell the story of a state whose economic engine continues to run on oil, gas, and energy innovation, even as Washington policies, global uncertainty, and environmental pressure threaten to slow it down.
At the center of this resilience is the Texas upstream oil and natural gas industry. After losing 1,400 jobs in July, the sector regained traction in August, adding 200 upstream jobs. While modest, that uptick pushed total upstream employment to 205,100. The numbers reflect an internal shift: 200 fewer oil and gas extraction jobs, but 400 more in oilfield services.
The Texas Oil & Gas Workers Association put those figures into perspective:
“Growth for this calendar year so far remains a positive 4,200 upstream jobs, and at 205,100 upstream jobs, compared to the same month in the prior year, August 2025 jobs were up by 2,000, or 1.0%.”
That 1% growth may seem small in isolation, but it is part of a longer arc showing how Texas continues to outperform national trends. The state’s energy workers are still earning some of the highest wages in the country, averaging $128,000 annually in 2024, even as other industries stagnate under inflationary pressures.
Understanding the Upstream Engine
The term “upstream” in oil and gas refers to the front end of the energy cycle—exploration, drilling, and extraction. In Texas, that means rigs in the Permian Basin, wells in the Eagle Ford Shale, and operators spread across the Panhandle.
What upstream doesn’t cover is equally important: refining, petrochemicals, pipelines, utilities, and oilfield equipment manufacturing. Those sectors—considered “midstream” and “downstream”—are vital, but they depend on the foundation upstream provides. Without upstream extraction, Texas would not be able to power its refineries, fill its pipelines, or support its vast export infrastructure.
In effect, upstream is the tip of the spear. Its performance signals the health of the entire Texas energy economy.
Resilience in a Time of Uncertainty
August’s rebound is notable precisely because it came after two straight months of job losses. In June and July, the sector shed a combined 2,000 jobs, reflecting global price volatility and forecasts of supply-demand imbalances.
Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA), emphasized that August’s slight gains show the industry is adapting:
“The August employment gains are a welcome sign of the Texas oil and natural gas industry’s resilience. Despite forecasts of a supply and demand imbalance and persistent global uncertainties, companies are adapting to manage risk and continue delivering the reliable energy that powers modern life.”
Those “global uncertainties” are not small. OPEC+ production cuts, geopolitical conflicts, and regulatory bottlenecks in Washington all weigh on the sector. Add to that environmentalist pressure to “phase out fossil fuels,” and Texas operators face a landscape in which success is anything but guaranteed.
Yet, rather than retreat, Texas firms continue to innovate, hedge against risk, and deploy new technologies that make drilling safer and more efficient.
The Labor Market: Job Postings Surge
Employment data from the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) reveals just how hungry the market is for skilled labor.
In August, Texas posted 10,154 unique oil and gas job openings, compared to 8,853 in July. Of those, 3,806 were new postings. By contrast, Pennsylvania had fewer than 3,000 postings, California just over 2,500, Ohio 2,322, and Illinois 2,014.
Nationwide, nearly 60,000 job postings were listed across the oil and natural gas sector last month, including more than 20,000 new openings. Texas not only dominated the numbers but also the geography of opportunity. The top four cities for job postings—Houston, Midland, Dallas, and Odessa—were all in Texas.
Among the 19 industry subsectors TIPRO tracks, the most job listings came from Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations. Other leading subsectors included Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores, Petroleum Refineries, and Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas.
Ed Longanecker, TIPRO’s president, said the trends point toward continued growth:
“The Texas oil and natural gas industry remains vital for job creation, innovation, and energy security, with 2025 employment trends driven by a variety of dynamic factors. Federal policies, including faster permitting and expanded LNG export approvals, along with transformative investment in AI-driven data centers, will support increased export activity, creating high-paying jobs in midstream, gas-fired generation and export infrastructure in the coming years.”
Longanecker’s reference to AI-driven data centers highlights an underappreciated aspect of the energy story: the digital revolution runs on electricity, and that electricity still overwhelmingly comes from natural gas. Far from being “obsolete,” fossil fuels are powering the very technologies that environmentalists say will define the future.
Tax Revenue Surges with Production
Texas’ energy sector doesn’t just provide jobs—it fills the state’s coffers. In August, oil producers paid $445 million in oil production taxes, the highest level in six months. Natural gas producers paid $194 million in production taxes, representing a 143% increase over the year.
Those tax revenues flow into the state’s General Revenue Fund and the Economic Stabilization Fund—better known as the “Rainy Day Fund.” In practical terms, every barrel pumped in the Permian helps pay for Texas schools, roads, and infrastructure.
For a state that prides itself on low taxes and fiscal conservatism, the oil and gas sector’s tax contributions remain indispensable.
Texas vs. Washington: Competing Visions
While Texas celebrates job growth, Washington has charted a different course. The previous Biden administration had leaned heavily into green energy subsidies, EPA regulations, and restrictions on leasing federal lands for drilling. Critics argue that these policies undermine U.S. energy independence, making America more reliant on foreign sources.
Texas, by contrast, has doubled down on fossil fuels, while also investing in renewable energy where market conditions make sense. The result is a hybrid model that secures reliable baseload power while fostering innovation.
The data suggests Texans aren’t waiting for federal permission. They are drilling, producing, hiring, and exporting—driving both the state and national economy forward.
What It Means for Texans
For everyday Texans, the numbers translate into several realities:
- High-paying jobs: At an average salary of $128,000, upstream jobs remain a path to middle-class stability and upward mobility.
- Local prosperity: Towns like Midland and Odessa live and die by energy cycles. August’s rebound means more paychecks, more tax revenue, and stronger local economies.
- Energy security: The more Texas produces, the less America must import from unstable regimes abroad.
- Political leverage: With Texas leading in production and job creation, the state carries significant influence in national energy debates.
At the same time, challenges remain. Energy jobs are cyclical, tied to commodity prices. Inflation continues to eat into wages. And environmental policy battles show no sign of abating.
A Broader Economic Picture
Texas’ leadership in job creation isn’t confined to energy, but energy remains its backbone. The latest employment data proves that when oil and gas thrive, the broader Texas economy benefits.
As global markets shift and federal policies evolve, Texas will continue to chart its own path—balancing innovation with tradition, and resilience with risk.
The August rebound may look like a blip on a chart. In reality, it is a reminder that Texas’ economic future remains intertwined with the industry that put it on the map. Oil and gas are not relics of the past. They are the foundation of a modern, growing, and increasingly dynamic state.
Attribution: Original reporting by Bethany Blankley of The Center Square. Additional analysis and commentary by Michael Pipkins.
Westlake, TX – In the predawn chill of February 27, Tarrant County sheriff’s deputies descended upon the Copa Club, a discreet poker haven tucked away in Westlake’s tony confines, with the precision of a SWAT team storming a cartel hideout. Two arrests, $4,000 in cash seized, poker tables confiscated—another notch in the belt of Sheriff Bill Waybourn’s Game Room Enforcement Unit. The charges? Promotion of gambling and engaging in organized criminal activity. The targets? Mark Hulme, a 66-year-old Coppell resident running guest experience, and Scott Whittington, a 53-year-old Ponder man overseeing the floor. Bond totals barely scraped $3,750 combined, yet the message was loud: Texas law bows to no card shark.
For months, the Sheriff’s Office had the Copa Club—a private, members-only joint boasting Texas Hold’em, cocktails, and a swanky restaurant vibe—under its microscope. The raid wasn’t a spontaneous flex of authority but the culmination of a deliberate sting, one that’s left locals buzzing and constitutional conservatives raising an eyebrow. Sure, Texas Penal Code Chapter 47 brands gambling a no-go, but the Copa Club wasn’t raking in pots like some back-alley bookie. It charged membership fees, a workaround that’s kept poker rooms across the state shuffling cards in a legal gray zone for years. So why the heavy hand now? And why in Westlake, a stone’s throw from Trophy Club, where liberty-minded folks don’t take kindly to government overreach?
The official line is tight-lipped—ongoing investigation, more arrests pending, blah, blah, blah. But let’s cut through the fog. This isn’t just about a few geezers bluffing over a flush. It’s the second poker room takedown in Tarrant County’s northern suburbs in under two years, a pattern that reeks of a broader agenda. Sheriff Waybourn’s crew isn’t shy about flexing muscle—recall their 2023 raid on a Fort Worth game room that netted a similar haul. Back then, it was “protecting the community” from the scourge of illicit dice. Now, it’s Westlake’s turn to be saved from the horrors of a royal straight.
Here’s the rub: Texas’s gambling laws are a relic, a Puritan holdover in a state that prides itself on rugged individualism. The Copa Club wasn’t a den of mobsters laundering cartel cash—it was a social spot for grown-ups who’d rather ante up than binge Netflix. Membership fees sidestepped the “house cut” prohibition, a clever dodge that’s worked elsewhere. Yet Tarrant County’s finest seem hell-bent on proving a point: step out of line, and the long arm of the law will slap you back. Never mind that the state legislature’s been too busy grandstanding on culture war red meat to clarify this legal mess. Why fix a loophole when you can let sheriffs play judge and jury?
For those in Trophy Club and Denton County, this hits close to home. Westlake’s just down the road, and its strict anti-gambling bent—coupled with Tarrant County’s enforcement zeal—feels like a warning shot. Is Trophy Club next? Will some deputy eyeball a Friday night euchre game and cry “organized crime”? The Constitution doesn’t enshrine poker, but it sure as heck protects free association and property rights. Raiding a private club over a game of skill (don’t let the luck-fanatics fool you—Hold’em’s no slot machine). If Hulme and Whittington are criminals, then half the retirees in Denton County swapping quarters over bridge are, too.
The Copa Club’s Instagram post—shuttered “due to unforeseen circumstances”—drips with irony. Unforeseen? Hardly. When you’re in Sheriff Waybourn’s crosshairs, the only surprise is the hour the battering ram hits. The club’s hoping to reopen, but good luck with that in a town where the moralizing runs thicker than molasses. Meanwhile, the seized $4,000 and poker chips sit in evidence, a trophy for a Sheriff’s Office that’s apparently got nothing better to do than police card tables.
This isn’t about law and order—it’s about control. Tarrant County’s sending a signal: toe the line, or we’ll find a statute to bury you under. For constitutional conservatives, that’s a red flag bigger than the Lone Star itself. Texas thrives when its people are free, not when they’re cowering under the boot of selective enforcement. Maybe it’s time the legislature dealt a new hand—legalize poker rooms, tax ‘em, and let adults be adults. Until then, watch your bluffs, folks. The Sheriff’s got eyes everywhere.
ROCKWALL, Texas — L3Harris Technologies, a titan in the defense contracting world, has dropped a bombshell: 179 jobs tied to its Rockwall facility are slated for the chopping block. The layoffs, announced via a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice on February 20, 2025, and set to unfold between April 22 and June 30, mark the end of the JAVA MAN program, an aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) initiative. For a county of just over 100,000 souls—many of whom rely on the stability of such employers—this isn’t just a corporate shuffle; it’s a gut punch to the heart of Texas self-reliance.
According to The Dallas Morning News (February 28, 2025), L3Harris, headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, employs about 48,000 globally, with a hefty Texas footprint—15 locations and roughly 7,900 workers as of mid-2021. The Rockwall layoffs, though a sliver of that total, sting locally. The JAVA MAN program’s closure, confirmed by company spokesperson Sharon Parsley, isn’t tied to some grand conspiracy of military budget slashing or foreign aid flip-flops—despite whispers of such in the wake of President Trump’s January 2025 executive order suspending most foreign aid, including Ukraine’s lifeline, for 90 days. No, this is simpler: a program ran its course, and now Rockwall County pays the price.
Rockwall County, with its median household income of $111,024 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 estimates), thrives on the kind of grit and ingenuity L3Harris once promised. The company’s Texas workforce boasts an average salary north of $100,000—jobs that fuel families, fund schools, and keep the tax base robust. Lose 179 of those, and the ripple effects aren’t hypothetical; they’re real. High-wage jobs like these prop up local businesses—restaurants, shops, contractors—and when they vanish, the hole is felt county-wide.
For the moment, L3Harris isn’t abandoning Rockwall entirely. Only 31 of the 179 affected workers are in-state; the rest, per the WARN notice, are out-of-state remote employees, many overseas. Still, those 31 local losses—pilots, logistics folks, maintenance crews—aren’t faceless stats. They’re neighbors, churchgoers, taxpayers. And while the company touts efforts to reassign them internally, the reality is murkier.
What’s the bigger picture? Some might point fingers at Washington—say, the looming shadow of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with trimming federal fat. Pentagon brass, per The Wall Street Journal (March 4, 2025), are already drafting lists of expendable programs. Could JAVA MAN’s demise be a preemptive casualty? Doubtful. The timeline doesn’t align; L3Harris’s decision predates DOGE’s full bite. More likely, this reflects corporate calculus—JAVA MAN, with its $75 million in Air Force contracts (HigherGov data), simply didn’t pencil out long-term. Yet that cold logic doesn’t soften the blow for Rockwall.
Constitutional conservatives champion limited government, but we also know prosperity hinges on opportunity. L3Harris’s retreat raises questions: Where’s the state’s response? Texas, under Governor Greg Abbott, has bragged about its business-friendly climate—low taxes, light regulation. But when a defense giant like L3Harris pulls back, where’s the cavalry? The Texas Workforce Commission offers retraining, sure, but that’s a Band-Aid on a broken system.
L3Harris claims its Texas business is “growing,” per Parsley’s statement to The Dallas Morning News. They’re hiring elsewhere—Greenville, Plano—while Rockwall gets the axe. That’s the free market’s double edge: ruthless efficiency, zero sentimentality. For a county that prides itself on bootstrap values, it’s a bitter pill. And with the national defense budget still ballooning—$886 billion in 2023, per the Congressional Budget Office—why does Rockwall feel the squeeze? Maybe it’s not about cuts but priorities. ISR programs like JAVA MAN might not dazzle in a world of hypersonic missiles and AI drones.
So, what’s next for Rockwall County? Resilience, for one. This isn’t a death knell—yet. The county’s unemployment rate hovers at 3.5% (Texas Workforce Commission, January 2025), well below the national 4.1%. But losing high-skill, high-wage jobs tests that grit. Local leaders must double down on attracting new players—tech, manufacturing, anything—to fill the void. And Texans, ever wary of federal overreach, should demand answers: If defense dollars flow, why not here?
This isn’t just about L3Harris. It’s about a principle: Government shouldn’t pick winners and losers, but it darn well shouldn’t let communities like Rockwall wither when the private sector shifts gears. For now, 31 local families face uncertainty, and a county holds its breath. That’s the story—raw, real, and quintessentially Texan.
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