H.R. 10167: Common Cents Act

The bill would end regular production of pennies for everyday use and set up rules for handling cash amounts without using the one-cent coin. It also allows the Treasury to change how nickels are made, and directs the Federal Reserve and Treasury to study and report on how ending penny circulation would affect coin supply and certain groups of people.

What the bill changes about coins

• It would require the Treasury to stop minting new one-cent coins for general circulation.
• Pennies already made would still be valid money for debts, taxes, and other payments.
• The U.S. Mint could still make pennies for collectors or numismatic sales.
• It would also revise the rules for 5-cent coins, allowing them to be made with a different metal composition, such as a zinc core with a nickel outer layer, if that lowers production costs and does not significantly interfere with machines that accept coins.

Cash rounding rules

Because pennies would no longer be produced for circulation, the bill creates a rounding system for cash transactions when exact change cannot be given:

• If a cash total ends in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents, it may be rounded down to the nearest 5-cent amount.
• If a cash total ends in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents, it may be rounded up to the nearest 5-cent amount.
• Amounts of 1 or 2 cents may be rounded up to 5 cents.

The bill says this rounding rule applies only to cash transactions and similar cash transfers. It does not apply to payments made by check, credit card, debit card, electronic transfer, gift card, money order, or similar noncash methods.

Employer cash payments

If an employer pays an employee in cash and chooses to round the amount, the employer must round up to the nearest 5 cents. However, the bill does not require employers to round if they pay the exact amount in cash.

Legal protections for rounding

The bill says that following the cash-rounding rules would not violate federal, state, tribal, or local laws or regulations. It also says the bill does not override wage, overtime, or paid-leave laws.

Federal Reserve and Treasury reports

The bill requires the Federal Reserve to submit a plan within 90 days of enactment on how it would handle penny orders and deposits at coin terminals and keep the coin distribution system stable during the phaseout. The Treasury must also evaluate possible effects on low-income communities, older consumers, and people who are unbanked, underbanked, or without regular bank access, and make recommendations to address any harms.

The Federal Reserve must then issue follow-up reports on implementation progress and any problems in the penny distribution system at later intervals.

How future coin phaseouts would work

The bill adds a process the Treasury must follow before stopping circulation of any other coin in the future. The Secretary of the Treasury would have to give Congress 60 days’ notice, explain the reasons, provide a plan for phasing the coin out, and brief Congress within 30 days after notice.

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