Sponsors (2)
The bill seeks to modernize coinage, authorize cash‑rounding rules, and increase Federal Reserve and Treasury oversight—potentially lowering minting costs and giving businesses legal clarity—while shifting small, cumulative costs onto cash users and imposing retrofit and administrative burdens on businesses and taxpayers.
Cash users (low-income people, seniors, and other customers) and cash-wage employees gain clearer, standardized rounding rules and legal certainty that reduce disputes—electronic payments remain exact, sellers may choose to give consumers a favorable rounding, and some cash wages could see small increases.
Taxpayers could see lower Mint production costs if the penny is eliminated and the nickel is changed to a lower-cost zinc‑nickel composition.
Consumers and businesses that handle cash and coin‑operated machines get reduced disruption risk because the bill requires testing the new nickel composition, a 60‑day notice before coin discontinuation, and Fed planning to ease transitions and minimize coin jams.
Frequent cash users—especially low‑income people, seniors, and the unbanked—could lose money over time because permitted cash rounding can round totals down (up to 4¢ per transaction), a cumulative burden for those who rely on cash.
Small businesses, vending operators, state and local programs (parking meters, donation boxes), and taxpayers may face significant retrofit, recalibration, and administrative costs to adapt machines and systems to a new nickel or to penny removal.
Consumers using coin‑operated machines risk lost or rejected payments if testing does not fully prevent incompatibility between machines and a new nickel composition or weight.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Ends production of 1-cent coins for general circulation, allows a redesigned 5-cent coin with a new zinc-nickel composition and revised weight ranges, and authorizes optional cash rounding to the nearest nickel when exact change cannot be provided. It also protects businesses and financial institutions that use the permitted rounding method from liability under other laws, requires Federal Reserve and Treasury reports on coin distribution and impacts, and creates a congressional notice process before the Secretary of the Treasury discontinues minting any circulating coin.
Official title: Common Cents Act
Introduced August 27, 2026 by Lisa C. McClain · Last progress September 15, 2026
Stops minting pennies for general circulation, allows a new zinc-nickel nickel, permits optional cash rounding to the nearest 5 cents, and requires Fed/Treasury reports and congressional notice before discontinuing coins.