Texas Border Business
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Restaurant Association celebrated House passage of the Common Cents Act, a win for restaurant operators who have been contending with the phase out of the penny.
The legislation would permit rounding for cash transactions and create safe harbor protections for business owners – including restaurant operators. It ultimately simplifies transactions, reduces confusion at the point of sale, and protects operators and small businesses nationwide from liability. The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration, where the Association has been actively engaging lawmakers and urging its swift passage.
“Restaurants need clarity on how to manage the phase out of the penny, and customers deserve consistency when using cash to pay for their meals,” said Sean Kennedy, Chief Advocacy Officer at the National Restaurant Association. “This legislation would achieve both, reducing unnecessary friction between restaurants and the guests they serve and injecting a degree of uniformity into the most basic transactions involved in running a restaurant. This is a meaningful win for every restaurant operator and small business owner who has spent months navigating this challenge without a road map.”
The last penny was produced in November of 2025. Its abrupt discontinuation and a subsequent hold placed on distribution was particularly chaotic for restaurants – a consumer-facing industry that operates on 3-5% margins and where 1 in 4 transactions is paid in cash. Following extensive advocacy by the Association, the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department took action to relieve some of the stress these changes created for restaurant operators and their customers. The bill passed today reflects direct input from the industry and would create the long-term solution operators have been seeking.
More information about how the Association was asking Congress to address the penny problem is here.
Information source: National Restaurant Association
