H.R. 3074: Common Cents Act

H.R. 3074, the Common Cents Act, would end production of new one-cent coins for everyday circulation. It would not pull pennies out of use: every penny already minted would remain legal tender, and the Treasury could still make pennies for collectors.

The part most people would notice is the cash-rounding system. If exact change cannot be provided, cash totals ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents could round down to the nearest 5 cents, while totals ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents could round up. A cash total of 1 or 2 cents could be rounded up to 5 cents.

The bill also adds a consumer rule for situations where money is moving back to you. If a business is paying you in cash—like for change, a refund, or another cash transfer—it must round up in your favor; if you are paying the business, it may round down.

These rules apply only to cash. Card payments, checks, electronic transfers, money orders, and gift cards would still be charged at the exact amount.

Workers paid in cash get a separate protection. If an employer chooses to round a cash payment that is not divisible by 5 cents, the employer has to round up, and the bill says that does not override wage, overtime, or paid leave laws.

H.R. 3074 also changes the nickel. The Treasury could use a zinc core with an outer layer of nickel and set the coin's weight between 4 and 6 grams, as long as testing shows the change reduces production costs and does not create major problems for coin-accepting machines.

The rollout would move quickly. Treasury would have 60 days to assess how penny supply changes and rounding could affect low-income, older, debanked, unbanked, and underbanked people, and the Federal Reserve would have 90 days to publish a national plan for penny orders, deposits, and coin-terminal operations.