S. 1525 — Common Cents Act

This section authorizes 5-cent coins with an inner zinc layer and outer nickel layer weighing between 4 and 6 grams. It ceases production of one-cent coins for general circulation while permitting continued minting of such coins as numismatic items.

This section authorizes voluntary rounding of cash transaction amounts to the nearest multiple of 5 cents when exact change cannot be made. Merchants and financial institutions may round down amounts ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents and round up amounts ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents; amounts of $0.01 or $0.02 may be rounded up to $0.05. Employers paying wages in cash must round up to the nearest 5 cents if they choose to round. Rounding is not required and does not apply to payments by check, credit card, electronic transfer, or similar instruments.

This section shields any person, including a financial institution, from liability under federal, state, tribal, or local law for adhering to the cash rounding provisions in section 3. It does not excuse noncompliance with minimum wage, overtime pay, or paid leave requirements.

This section directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to submit and publicly release, within 90 days of enactment, a strategic plan report on accepting penny orders and deposits at commercial coin terminals nationwide. The report must evaluate terminals that no longer accept pennies, assess mitigation of supply disruptions from ending penny production, and incorporate a Treasury assessment of impacts on low-income, older, debanked, unbanked, and underbanked populations, with recommendations to Congress. It also requires three follow-up progress reports at 6, 18, and 30 months after the initial submission.

This section limits the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to discontinue minting for circulation any coin described in section 5112 that is minted for circulation as of the date of enactment. The Secretary may act only after providing the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services with 60 days’ advance notice that includes the reasoning and a plan addressing impacts on consumers, businesses, and the economy, followed by a briefing to those committees within 30 days after the notice.

This section defines covered committees as the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate. It also defines financial institution as any non-individual person engaged in financial activities under section 4(k) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.