HB 1112: Commerce and trade; rounding of total price of sale of goods or services when using legal tender; provide

In plain language

What the bill does

Who it affects

Why it matters

Key provisions

From the bill

Discussed in meetings (19)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

1. House Banks & Banking Committee, February 20, 2026

   From 0:49:20 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor presented a substitute for HB 1112, saying the federal government’s decision to stop producing pennies had created problems for retailers making change. The sponsor said cash totals, after sales tax, could be rounded to the nearest nickel: totals ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents would round down, while 3, 4, 8 or 9 would round up. Asked about consumer protection and disclosure, the sponsor said the bill required no signs and argued that upward and downward rounding would balance over time. A witness explained that sales tax would be calculated before rounding. Presenters confirmed that rounding was optional, electronic payments were excluded and mixed payments involving cash were covered. Members sought explicit language preserving customers’ ability to use pennies and businesses’ ability to provide exact change. The sponsor requested clarification, and a presenter described a proposed addition addressing penny use. The sponsor also told a member that businesses could not simply choose to round every transaction upward. A do-pass motion received a second and a voice vote, but the chair did not explicitly announce the result. After adjournment, speakers discussed the added language and agreed to prepare a substitute; no further vote was shown.

2. House Rules Committee, February 23, 2026

   From 1:30:18 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The committee approved a motion to send HB 1112 back to Banks and Banking without opposition. The chair encouraged members to make needed changes in the subject-matter committees before returning bills to Rules, rather than relying on substitutes offered in Rules.

3. House Banks & Banking Committee, February 26, 2026

   From 0:20:20 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor presented a change to the version previously approved by the committee. The sponsor explained that the bill rounds cash purchases up or down to the nearest nickel, but the added language would require merchants to accept exact payment before rounding while pennies remain legal tender. The sponsor said this would address concerns about customers losing pennies through rounding. After a motion and second, the committee approved the change by voice vote. No vote count was stated.

4. House Rules Committee, March 2, 2026

   From 1:03:46 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1112 responded to the federal government's ending penny production by allowing cash purchase totals, including sales tax, to be rounded to the nearest nickel. The sponsor explained that totals ending in one, two, six or seven cents would round down, while those ending in three, four, eight or nine would round up. Customers providing exact change could pay the exact amount without rounding. Asked whether electronic payments would also be rounded, the sponsor said the proposal applied only to cash transactions. No clear committee decision was recorded.

5. House Rules Committee, March 4, 2026

   From 1:49:26 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 2013

   Summary by Georgia Commons: A committee member requested HB 1112 on behalf of retailers. The member said it would allow rounding transactions up or down to the nearest nickel following the federal elimination of the penny. The member said retailers needed the change to itemize cash register transactions for sales tax purposes. No questions or decision followed.

6. House Rules Committee, March 5, 2026

   From 0:39:33 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 2013

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said the substitute to HB 1112 would round cash-payment totals down to the nearest five cents. In response to a committee member's questions, the presenter explained that a $100.04 total would become $100, while totals from $100.06 through $100.09 would become $100.05. The committee approved the substitute without opposition and later placed the bill on the floor calendar without opposition.

7. House floor session, March 6, 2026 (legislative day 28, PM, part 1)

   From 0:22:15 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 2096

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would direct retailers to round cash-payment totals down to the nearest nickel after adding sales tax, responding to the end of federal penny production and dwindling penny supplies. The sponsor clarified that mixed payments involving cash, such as cash and a gift card, would qualify, but electronic payments would not. One member said the change would help merchants program registers and balance cash sales. A second member, a retailer, asked whether rounding would complicate accounting and sales-tax reporting, but received no substantive explanation. Another member asked about effects on low-income, cash-dependent households. The sponsor said rounding down would benefit those households. The House withdrew the committee substitute, adopted a Rules Committee substitute and passed the bill 167-2.

8. Senate Finance Committee, March 17, 2026

   From 0:33:10 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor explained that HB 1112 would round the final purchase total, including sales tax, to the nearest nickel for cash payments and mixed payments involving cash. Totals ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents would round down, while those ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 would round up. The sponsor said customers offering exact change could still pay the exact amount. The chair and sponsor favored this approach over the House-passed version, which only rounded down. The sponsor said retailers warned that rounding down every time would reduce margins, and estimated that cash accounts for 11% to 14% of retail transactions. Asked whether retailers could manipulate prices, the sponsor said that would be difficult for purchases containing multiple items because rounding applies only to the final total. Another member asked about checkout programming and retailer support. The sponsor said Georgia retailers supported the language and had worked with the Department of Revenue on it. Members unanimously approved replacing the working text with the earlier Banks and Banking Committee version. No separate final passage vote was shown.

9. Senate Rules Committee, March 19, 2026

   From 0:29:06 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill responded to the federal government's decision to stop making pennies. Retailers would total purchases and apply sales tax before rounding cash payments to the nearest nickel. The sponsor said the rules would also cover mixed gift-card and cash payments, but retailers could not round up when customers supplied exact change. The sponsor said the language followed National Conference of State Legislatures guidance and had passed the House banking committee unanimously. No scheduling decision was recorded.

10. Senate Rules Committee, March 23, 2026

    From 0:32:21 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The senator presenting HB 1112 described it as a measure addressing penny rounding. A committee member later selected it for the floor calendar. The final spoken list instead named HB 112, so the transcript does not clearly establish whether HB 1112 was included in the unanimously approved package.

11. Senate floor session, March 25, 2026 (legislative day 37)

    From 2:39:53 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Engrossed)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The Senate initially included HB 1112 in a 32-to-19 vote preventing floor amendments. The sponsor later said the substitute restored cash-rounding rules recommended by the U.S. Treasury and the National Conference of State Legislatures following the end of penny production. The sponsor said House changes had caused concern among retailers. Members asked how rounding would work. The sponsor clarified that final totals ending in one or two cents would round down to zero, three or four up to five, six or seven down to five, and eight or nine up to ten. The sponsor described this as rounding to the nearest five cents. The clerk also described provisions for exact-change payments, tax exemptions and certain legal protections. The Senate adopted the substitute and passed it 50 to 0.

12. House floor session, April 2, 2026 (legislative day 40, AM)

    From 1:27:15 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1112 would guide retailers on rounding cash transactions when pennies are no longer available. The sponsor said the Treasury stopped manufacturing pennies the previous November. Asked what the Senate changed, the sponsor said the substitute restored the original approach, following National Conference of State Legislatures guidance and practices in surrounding states. The House agreed to the Senate substitute, 163 to 4.

• Read aloud: House floor session, February 2, 2026 (legislative day 10), 0:48:35
• Read aloud: House floor session, February 3, 2026 (legislative day 11), 0:41:04
• Read aloud: House floor session, February 20, 2026 (legislative day 22), 0:46:09
• Read aloud: House floor session, February 26, 2026 (legislative day 25, AM), 1:05:43
• Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 9, 2026 (legislative day 29), 0:26:40
• Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 18, 2026 (legislative day 33), 0:30:45
• Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 19, 2026 (legislative day 34), 0:46:04

Status timeline

Sponsors

Votes

Topics