Florida is getting ready for a penny-less world.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that allows vendors to round up or down to the nearest nickel when people pay with cash, now that pennies are no longer being manufactured.
DeSantis signed SB 1074 with little fanfare on Monday, without holding a public news conference, as he has with other higher-profile bills.
During the 2026 Legislative Session, lawmakers said SB 1074 was needed to prepare Florida for the fact that the federal government stopped producing pennies last year.
“We will soon get to the point, as pennies are no longer in circulation, where your customer won’t have the proper amount of pennies to pay … so this bill will codify how you should round in those circumstances,” said Rep. Fiona McFarland, who sponsored the House version while Sen. Don Gaetz carried the Senate version.
The new law takes effect immediately and says that purchases ending in 1 or 2 cents will round down to zero, while those ending in 3 or 4 cents will round up to 5 cents. Transactions ending in 6 or 7 cents round down to 5 cents, and those ending in 8 or 9 cents round up to the next 10 cents.
The legislation does not impact how sales tax is calculated or affect official sales prices. The rounding also does not apply to people paying for items with credit cards.
Florida is planning for life without the penny, which has a long history and was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792, according to the United States Mint’s website.
Eliminating the penny will save the U.S. Treasury $56 million annually.
“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” President Donald Trump wrote on social media.
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Florida Politics staff writer Jesse Mendoza contributed to this report.
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