By: @Aaron Avery
On February 20, CSDA’s Legislative Committee adopted a Co-Sponsor position on Senate Bill 1005 (Caballero) Local agency: payment: rounding amount. SB 1005 was introduced in response to the decision of the United States Mint to suspend production of pennies as cash currency. According to the Mint, the decision was influenced by the rising cost of producing the penny, which has increased to 3.69 cents per penny. The phase out of pennies is reportedly already leading to shortages of pennies.
Local agencies continue to accept and make cash payments for a variety of transactions, leading to concerns about the unavailability of pennies. SB 1005 seeks to address this concern by explicitly authorizing local agencies, including special districts, to round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. Specifically, the bill provides:
A local agency may round the amount of any payment [as defined] made wholly or partly in cash to the local agency, or any refund or other amount tendered wholly or partly in cash by the local agency, to the nearest five cents ($0.05).
The authorization first requires the governing body of the local agency to adopt, by majority vote, a resolution to make the provisions of the bill applicable to the local agency.
CSDA has joined co-sponsors California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors and Rural County Representatives of California, among others.
SB 1005 has been referred to the Senate Local Government Committee for hearing. Stay tuned to CSDA eNews and Advocacy News for updates.
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