Overview
- The House approved the Common Cents Act on Tuesday and transmitted the bipartisan measure to the Senate for consideration.
- The bill directs the Treasury and U.S. Mint to stop minting pennies for general circulation while keeping pennies as legal tender and allowing limited collector coins.
- It establishes a uniform, optional cash‑rounding rule that rounds transactions to the nearest five cents and specifies which last‑digit cents are rounded up or down.
- Business groups praised the vote as legal protection for retailers and restaurants, which the National Restaurant Association says could face up to $168 million in annual costs from rounding without a standard.
- Analysts note smaller consumer effects with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond estimating about $6 million in annual rounding costs and the U.S. Mint reporting that producing a penny costs nearly four cents.