By Bob Katzen

The Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee held a hearing on legislation that would require that all commercial cash transaction in the Bay State be rounded to the nearest 5 or 10 cent intervals in order to remove the need for the penny. Amounts ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 would be rounded down to the nearest 5 or 10-cent interval while amounts ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 would be rounded up to the nearest 5 or 10-cent interval. Rounding rules would not apply to payments made electronically, with credit cards, checks, gift cards or other non-cash methods.

The bill was filed in response to the U.S. Treasury’s announcement in November 2025 that it has stopped producing new pennies, after 252 years of doing so, in part due to production costs exceeding 3 cents per coin. While existing pennies will remain legal tender, the Treasury is phasing them out, leading to increased business use of rounding to the nearest 5 cents in cash transactions.

“This legislation addresses a foreseeable circumstance that the federal government has failed to recognize,” said co-sponsor Rep. Tackey Chan (D-Quincy). “The shortage of pennies negatively impacts consumers who pay in cash and hampers retailers from providing consistent and uniform change to customers.”

“The quickening scarcity of the amount of pennies in circulation have caused an issue for retailers across the country,” said co-sponsor Sen. Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough). “As pennies go the way of the blacksmith and end up in short supply, we need to craft a consistent solution that ensures cash-paying consumers are fairly charged and businesses are able to balance these transactions over time.”