Senate committee hears 'penny bill' to allow permissive cash rounding after minting stops
Loading...
Summary
Substitute House Bill 2,334 would permit asymmetrical rounding of in-person cash transactions after the U.S. Mint stopped producing pennies; sponsors and retailers said it offers needed guidance while staff cited a $186,000 one-time cost for the Department of Licensing to implement related changes.
Substitute House Bill 2,334 would give sellers the option to round the cash portion of in-person transactions to avoid requiring pennies after the U.S. Treasury announced it would stop minting pennies.
Committee staff outlined the bill's mechanics: penny endings of 1¢, 2¢, 6¢ and 7¢ would be rounded down; totals ending in 3¢, 4¢, 8¢ and 9¢ would be rounded up. Rounding would be applied after sales and use tax so tax liabilities are unaffected. The substitute differs from a Senate companion by making rounding permissive for sellers and state and local agencies, limiting it to in-person transactions, preempting local ordinances that prohibit rounding, and providing immunity from Consumer Protection Act claims tied to rounding. Staff also cited a Department of Licensing estimate of about $186,000 in one-time operating expenditures to update systems.
Rep. April Berg, the House sponsor, called it a "penny bill" born from a federal decision to stop minting pennies and said the measure protects consumers and businesses by allowing exact change and removing uncertainty. "This bill...makes sure that cash transactions, this is only applicable to cash transactions," she said, adding the bill protects businesses' business-and-occupation reporting obligations.
Retail groups urged passage in public testimony. Molly Poffin of the Washington Food Industry Association said grocery and convenience stores have difficulty obtaining pennies from banks and need statutory guidance to update point-of-sale systems. Brandon Huskeeper of the Northwest Grocery Retail Association said the bill provides a safe harbor for retailers and asked for a technical tweak to treatment of mixed-tender transactions. Todd Peterson, testifying as a private citizen, said other countries adjusted to removing pennies without issue.
Senators asked whether signage should be required at registers; Berg said adding signage would be an unfunded mandate on businesses and that merchants could post notices voluntarily.
The committee heard the bill and public testimony; no committee vote is recorded in the transcript.
