Take a penny, leave a penny — New York is one step closer to rounding everything to the nearest nickel.
The state Senate gave final approval to a bill late Wednesday that would require stores and merchants in the Empire State to round transaction totals up or down if a customer is paying cash.
The legislation, which will head to Gov. Kathy Hochul for approval, is in response to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s decision to cease producing the penny late last year. That move has led to a national shortage of the 1-cent coins that cost nearly 3.7 cents to produce.
Assemblymember John McDonald, an Albany-area Democrat who sponsors the bill, said it’s meant to give businesses and consumers direction about what to do in a post-penny world.
“This has been very successful in Canada,” McDonald said when the Assembly passed the bill earlier this year. “It's been very successful in Europe. It really is pretty much a draw.”
Under the bill, businesses would be required to round the transaction to the nearest total ending in zero or five. A sale that totals $13.67, for example, would round down to $13.65. If the sale were $13.69, it would round up to $13.70. There’s no rounding required if someone pays with a credit card or other non-cash forms of payment.
The measure is largely based on guidance from the U.S. Treasury and the National Conference of State Legislatures, which recommended the “symmetrical rounding” system the legislation utilizes.
The Senate voted 59-2 to approve the bill Wednesday. The Assembly passed it by a 133-4 margin last month.
Hochul has until the end of the year to sign or veto the legislation.
A spokesperson said she would review the measure.
