WASHINGTON, D.C. — A congressman and a senator, both representing Oklahoma, have actively been involved in promoting legislation to help sort out coinage issues affecting the nation.
U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK-03) have both advocated for fiscal responsibility through the Common Cents Act, also now known as H.R. 10167. The proposal passed both chambers last week and is waiting for a signature by Pres.
Donald Trump to become law.
Throughout the 119th Congress, which spans 2025 and 2026, multiple versions of the Common Cents Act were introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This includes H.R.4459, known as the MINT Act of 2025, which was introduced by Rep.
Lucas in July 2025. The proposal, according to congress.gov, called for reform and savings by amending U.S. coin specifications, allowing an alternative 5-cent coin composition, and ending production of the one-cent coin.
Rep. Lucas’ MINT Act of 2025 was referred to and introduced in the House Committee on Financial Services, but no further action was taken. He put his support behind H.R.3074, which was a similar bill introduced by Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Michigan). In July 2026, Rep. Lucas spoke on the House floor and his comments were recorded in the Congressional Record, available at congress, gov.
“I rise today in strong support of the Common Cents Act. This bill has been over a year in the making with my colleagues Ms. McClain and Ranking Member Waters, and I am proud of the product we have put forward.
“The Common Cents Act... gives flexibility to the Mint to produce a nickel with cheaper materials. In 1866, Congress mandated the nickel be produced from an ally of copper and nickel, and we haven’t updated the composition since.
This bill gives the Mint flexibility to produce a cheaper coin while retaining Congress’ responsibility of coining money,” he said.
Specifically, in addition to being made from an alloy of copper and nickel, the nickel may also be clad with an inner core of zinc and an outer layer of nickel, according to congress.gov.
In April 2025, the U.S. Senate also introduced a similar version of the Common Cents Act, S. 1525, sponsored by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming). It was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs but did not progress. Sen. Lankford signed on as a cosponsor of the bill on Aug. 4, 2026, and, three days later on Aug. 7, the Senate passed S.1525 by unanimous consent.
“I’m glad the Senate unanimously passed this legislation and took another step toward bringing our nation’s coinage system into the 21st century,” Sen.
Lankford wrote in a press release.
In addition, the Senate adopted an amendment to align the bill with the House’s July version, since the individual chambers passed different bill numbers. One measure must clear both chambers to be sent to the President, which occurred with H.R.10167 — a revised and expanded version of H.R.3074.
Sen. Lankford holds multiple leadership roles, including Vice-Chair of the Senate Republican Conference, and is also a member of multiple committees and subcommittees, including the Senate Committee on Finance. Among other leadership roles, Rep.
Lucas is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and Chairman of the House Financial Services Task Force on Monetary Policy, Treasury Market Resilience, and Economic Prosperity.
What about the penny?
Efforts to begin phasing out the penny began in 2025, when the Secretary of the Treasury suspended production of the onecent coin. According to usmint.gov, the decision was made based on the rising cost of producing a single penny, which had increased to 3.69 cents.
“That is why last year the President rightly ordered the Treasury Department to stop wasting hard-earned taxpayer dollars to produce the coin and why we’re excited to move forward in codifying this action,” Rep. Lucas said in his July speech on the House floor.
Production had ceased due to executive action, not legislation, which is why ending the production of the penny is included in the Common Cents Act. Stopping production saves the U.S. Treasury $56M annually, according to commoncentsact.com.
Existing pennies will remain legal tender indefinitely.
State Rounding Laws In the Spring of 2026, states began enacting their own coin rounding laws since legislation was stalled in Congress. Arizona enacted the only mandatory rounding law, according to commoncentsact. com, while other states made it voluntary.
Twenty-five states and territories currently have rounding legislation.
In May of this year, Oklahoma passed House Bill 3075, also known as the “Oklahoma Common Cents Act,” and Gov.
Kevin Stitt signed the measure into law and it is set to take effect Nov. 1. It was authored by Rep.
Derrick Hildebrant (R-Catoosa), and Sen.
Chuck Hall (R-Perry), and established standardized rounding rules for cash transactions made to state agencies and political subdivisions, according to a press release at okhouse.gov.
The rounding requirements apply only to cash, public transactions made to government entities and does not impact private businesses or electronic transactions.
Payments made by check, debit card, credit card or other electronic methods will not be affected.
Under the law, said the press release, cash payments ending in $0.01 or $0.02 will be rounded down to $0.00, amounts ending in $0.03 or $0.04 will be rounded up to $0.05, amounts ending in $0.06 or $0.07 will be rounded down to $0.05, and amounts ending in $0.08 or $0.09 will be rounded up to $0.10.
Hildebrant said in the release that the legislation was requested by Rogers County Treasurer Jason Carini after the county reviewed several years of cash transaction data and found the overall impact of rounding would be negligible.
The Oklahoma Common Cents Act takes effect Nov. 1, for state agencies. Political subdivisions, including cities and counties, will have until July 1, 2027, to transition to the new rounding requirements.
Debi DeSilver is an award-winning, thirdgeneration Oklahoma journalist whose writing career now spans 50 years.