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House committee advances bill to round cash transactions to nearest five cents amid penny shortage
Summary
A House committee gave HB545 a favorable report after accepting an amendment that exempts payments to governmental entities; the bill would standardize rounding of cash purchases to the nearest five cents and would not affect electronic payments or tax calculations.
A House committee on Tuesday advanced House Bill 545, which would standardize how retailers round cash transactions to the nearest five cents amid reported shortages of pennies.
Representative Cro introduced the measure, saying the bill stems from a national shift in penny availability and that "President Trump directed the U.S. Treasury to halt production of pennies." He said the measure would calculate the total purchase and tax first, and then round the final cash total to the nearest five cents so that tax computations are unchanged and electronic payments — credit, debit and digital — are not affected.
The bill specifies rounding rules: totals ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 are rounded down to the nearest five cents; totals ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 are rounded up. Representative Cro said the state Department of Revenue and finance officials were consulted and that neighboring states such as Georgia and Florida have adopted similar policies.
During committee consideration a member offered a friendly amendment to narrow the bill’s scope. The amendment would revise statutory language and add: "Subsection A shall not apply to any transaction where payment is made to a governmental entity," exempting state and local government receipts from the rounding rule. The committee adopted the amendment by voice vote.
Representative Ring questioned whether the change would require local governments to maintain penny supplies; the chair replied that it would not obligate local governments to keep exact pennies and said separate legislation addressing local jurisdictions may be brought later.
Following debate the committee voted to give HB545 a favorable report as amended. The motion to report the bill out of committee was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote. No roll-call vote tallies were recorded in the committee transcript.
The committee chair closed the special meeting after completing business on HB545. The next step for HB545 is placement on the full House calendar; no date for further action was provided in the committee record.
