S 3977 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Allows rounding for cash transactions.

This bill allows businesses in New Jersey to round cash transaction amounts to simplify payments after the penny's production ended in 2025. It applies only to cash payments, not cards or other non-cash methods, and sets specific rules for rounding prices ending in cents like $.01, $.02, $.03, or $.04 to the nearest nickel or dime. Businesses that choose to use this rounding system must follow the outlined rules, with fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for violations. The law takes effect 30 days after being signed into legislation.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 19, 2026 Last action May 18, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Reprint · 2 edits

MINOR

The Senate Commerce Committee amended S 3977 by removing the option to round cash transactions down, requiring businesses to always round up when following the penny phaseout rounding rules. A new provision was added permitting voluntary donation rounding programs where consumers can opt in or out. The explanatory statement at the end of the bill was removed as part of the reprint formatting.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded slightly to explicitly permit voluntary donation rounding programs alongside the mandatory rounding rules, while narrowing the rounding mechanism itself by eliminating the option to round down.

REQUIREMENT

Rounding rules for cash transactions ending in $.03/$.04 and $.08/$.09 now require rounding up only. The previous language allowed businesses to round 'up or down,' giving them discretion. Now the rounding is unidirectional (always up), meaning consumers will always pay a slightly higher amount when these rounding rules apply.

SCOPE

New subsection 1c allows voluntary donation rounding programs. Businesses can round a purchase up as a donation, but the program must be voluntary and consumers must have the right to both opt in and opt out.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 18, 2026

Committee

Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee

upper

Mar 19, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Commerce Committee

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors