Monday, February 9, 2026 |
Photo – Penny – Bigfoot99 file photo
State lawmakers are looking to set formal rules for cash transactions while towns debate how to handle pennies.
Last Thursday, Teton County Democrat Mike Yin introduced House Bill 0071. The measure, titled No more pennies: rounding cash payments, would set specific guidelines for handling cash transactions when pennies are unavailable. Under the proposal, totals ending in one, two, six, or seven cents would be rounded down to the nearest nickel. For example, a $1.07 purchase would be rounded to $1.05. Totals ending in three, four, eight, or nine cents would be rounded up to the nearest nickel. Finally, if the amount is exactly one or two cents, the total would be rounded up to five cents.
The bill states that rounding is to be done only after all applicable sales and use taxes have been calculated, ensuring the full tax amount is collected. Credit, debit, check, and exact‑change cash payments would not be rounded. Vendors that accept cash payments must also display a sign in their place of business indicating that payments made without exact change will be subject to rounding.
Representative Yin’s bill comes in response to President Donald Trump ordering the U.S. Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies last February. Every penny cost 3.7 cents to produce, and the United States Mint lost $85.3 million on penny production in fiscal year 2024. Trump called the coin “wasteful” and argued that taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize a currency that costs more to make than it’s worth.
For comparison, nickels are even more expensive to produce, with each coin requiring nearly 14 cents to manufacture. In 2024, the U.S. Mint lost more than $100 million on nickel production. Dimes, on the other hand, cost less than their face value to make, at roughly 6 cents each.
As pennies become scarcer, and with no official guidance from state lawmakers, Wyoming businesses have had to develop their own approaches to handling cash transactions. At the January 12th Medicine Bow Town Council meeting, Mayor Justin George, owner of J B’s Stop‑N‑Shop, said he has had to create his own strategy to deal with the lack of pennies.
Mayor George added that the local bank will no longer provide boxes of pennies for his business.
Private businesses aren’t the only entities forced to improvise how they handle pennies. Municipalities also accept cash for utility payments. The Town of Medicine Bow considered adopting an official penny policy during its January 12th meeting. Under the proposal, change from cash utility payments would be rounded to the nearest nickel. Other payment methods would not be affected.
Councilman Lee Cook asked if the town is legally permitted to lose money. Public Works Director Brian Lashley said businesses are prepared to absorb a few cents on certain transactions. Councilman Cook asked if the town, as a government entity, can do the same.
Uncertain about the legality of rounding pennies for municipal utility payments, the Medicine Bow Town Council voted to table the issue until the town attorney can review the question. That uncertainty is what Representative Yin’s bill is designed to address.
House Bill 0071 has received bipartisan support, with Republican Representatives Lloyd Larsen, J.T. Larson, Robert Wharff, and JD Williams joining Senators Brian Boner and Bill Landen as cosponsors. Should the measure pass as written, the state’s official penny rounding policy is scheduled to take effect on July 1st.
