Common Cents Act

A cash amount of 1 cent or 2 cents could be rounded up to 5 cents instead of down. Every other ending rounds to whichever nickel is closer, so this is the one case that only moves against the payer.

Treasury could change the nickel to a zinc core with a nickel outer layer, weighing 4 to 6 grams. Any new mix would first have to be tested to cost less to make and, as far as practical, to keep working in machines that take coins.

Sellers could round a cash total to the nearest 5 cents when they cannot make exact change. Rounding is optional, and it applies to the whole amount including tax, or to the change you are owed.

Treasury would have to stop making pennies for general circulation. Pennies already minted stay legal tender for debts, taxes, and public charges, and the Mint could still make pennies to sell to collectors.

If an employer pays an employee in cash and chooses to round the cents, the bill requires rounding up. Employers who pay the exact amount would not have to round at all.

A seller or financial institution that rounds cash the way the bill describes could not be found in violation of any federal, state, Tribal, or local rule for doing so. Minimum wage, overtime, and paid leave laws are carved out and still apply.

The Federal Reserve Board would have to publish a plan within 90 days for accepting penny orders and deposits at commercial coin terminals. Three follow-up progress reports would also be public, at 6, 18, and 30 months.

Treasury would have to assess how penny shortages and rounding, including at check-cashing outlets, affect low-income, older, and unbanked people. The assessment must include recommendations to Congress for fixing any harms it finds.

Before dropping any circulating coin, Treasury would have to give two House and Senate committees 60 days' notice, with its reasoning and a phase-out plan. A briefing to those committees would follow within 30 days.