ATLANTA, March 28, 2026, 3:53 PM EDT
Georgia lawmakers moved closer this week to setting penny-free checkout rules, while Washington has already written its own standard into law, underscoring how quickly states are filling the gap left by the end of U.S. penny production. Georgia’s Senate approved House Bill 1112 on March 25 by a 50-0 vote, and Washington’s HB 2334 was signed on March 23. 1
The push matters now because the last circulating U.S. penny was struck on Nov. 12, 2025, ending a 232-year run even though existing coins remain legal tender. The Treasury says retailers should still accept pennies and give penny change when they can, but may round cash totals to the nearest five cents when pennies are not available. 2
That has pushed states toward what lawmakers call symmetrical rounding, or rounding to the nearest nickel: cash totals ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents go down, while 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents go up. About two dozen states have introduced bills since late last year, the Associated Press reported, and a federal bill backed by Representative Lisa McClain has cleared the House Financial Services Committee but has not reached a House floor vote. 3
Washington’s law, which takes effect June 11, lets in-person cash transactions or change due be rounded but does not require it. Card and other non-cash payments must remain exact, taxes stay tied to the pre-rounded sale price, and customers can still pay the exact total if they have the coins; sponsor April Berg said the bill was meant to address “the myriad of issues” created as pennies thin out. 4
Georgia’s bill would go further. Capitol Beat reported the Senate substitute would generally require rounding on cash purchases while still letting customers pay the exact amount if they have it, and the House must still decide whether to accept the Senate’s changes before the measure can become law; Senator Chuck Hufstetler, a Republican from Rome, said the approach was simple because “it all evens out.” 5
Other states are moving on parallel tracks. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed a law on March 13 requiring rounding when pennies are unavailable, while Indiana softened an earlier statute so businesses can choose whether to round and Tennessee has focused on shielding merchants from consumer-protection claims; McClain has said a federal standard is needed to avoid a “confusing patchwork of state policies.” 6
Still, the shift may not be neutral for everyone. Treasury says rounding should leave prices going down as often as they go up, but Richmond Fed researchers using 2023 payment data found cash totals are slightly more likely to land on digits that round upward; economist Russell Wong said losing the penny will matter “only a little,” but estimated consumers would still pay about $6 million more a year in aggregate, with older and lower-income cash users bearing more of the effect. 7
The change is spilling into the collector market, too. CoinWeek reported on Friday that PCGS had certified a Buffalo nickel struck on a dime planchet — a blank coin disc meant for a dime — from an old mint-error collection, and said the piece ranks as the second-finest known example of that error, with fewer than a dozen recorded across all dates. 8
For now, the penny is fading unevenly rather than vanishing overnight. The Mint says collector versions will continue in limited quantities, while the rules for everyday cash payments are increasingly being written in state capitols rather than in Washington. 9
