Arizona enacts rounding law after feds halt penny production
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Arizona is among the first states to allow businesses to round prices up or down in response to the federal government's phase-out of the penny.
Why it matters: Businesses are running short on pennies, and the change is making it difficult to make change.
The big picture: President Trump last year directed the U.S. Treasury to stop producing pennies due to the growing cost — 3.7 cents apiece.
- The Philadelphia U.S. Mint stamped the nation's final copper coin in November.
The latest: Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday signed legislation allowing businesses to use the "Swedish rounding" method for cash transactions.
- Businesses must post signs telling customers that cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest five-cent increment.
- The law goes into effect immediately.
- It doesn't apply to debit, credit card or other electronic purchases.
Zoom out: Legislation allowing rounding to cope with the penny problem awaits lawmakers' approval or governors' signatures in Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, per the Associated Press.
- Indiana adopted a rounding provision earlier this month.
What they're saying: Rep. Teresa Martinez (R-Casa Grande), the bill's sponsor, told a House committee in February that she started keeping track of which businesses gave change in pennies and which kept those extra few cents.
- "It needs to be uniform, all across the state of Arizona," she said.
The other side: Only two lawmakers voted against the bill — Rep. Mariana Sandoval (D-Goodyear) and Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales (D-Tucson).
- "People work really hard for their money,'' Sandoval told Capitol Media Services. "And even if it is one or two pennies, if you add it up over time, it could affect them.''
Flashback: The elimination of the penny has a special significance in Arizona, where two prominent politicians made it their mission to make the one-cent piece a thing of the past.
- U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Tucson Republican who served in the U.S. House from 1985-2007, sponsored several pieces of legislation to abolish the penny throughout his career.
- "The penny has no functional use and is costing the country tens of millions a year to make," he told Politico several years after his retirement.
- U.S. Sen. John McCain and fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, of Wyoming, introduced a 2017 bill that would've eliminated the penny and phased out dollar bills in favor of coins.