Tennessee Senate Bill SB2498

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/2/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 47, Chapter 18 and Title 67, relative to cash transaction rounding.

Summary

SB2498 directs the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration to adopt rules for cash transaction rounding. The rules must require rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents, establish a specific rounding methodology, and prohibit practices that systematically benefit the seller. The bill also requires receipts to clearly show the transaction subtotal, any rounding adjustment, and the final total. The measure is aimed at standardizing how cash purchases are handled when exact coin change is not used, while preserving transparency for consumers. It applies only to cash transaction rounding and leaves the department to develop the detailed implementation rules under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act.

Impact

The bill would add a new state-level regulatory requirement in Title 67 and create a corresponding consumer-protection violation in Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 47-18-104(b). Failure to comply with the cash rounding rules would become an actionable unfair or deceptive practice under the state’s consumer protection framework. The Department of Finance and Administration would be responsible for promulgating and enforcing the rules using existing resources, and businesses handling cash sales would need to adjust point-of-sale and receipt practices accordingly.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or formal support/opposition in the available record. Based on the bill text alone, the proposal appears administrative and consumer-oriented, with an emphasis on fairness and transparency in cash transactions. The absence of recorded controversy suggests the measure may have been treated as a technical or housekeeping change rather than a highly contested policy issue.

Contention

The main potential point of contention is the mandated rounding standard itself: businesses may object to the operational burden of changing systems and receipts, while consumer advocates may focus on ensuring rounding does not systematically favor sellers. Another possible issue is the delegation of rulemaking authority to the Department of Finance and Administration, since the bill leaves the precise methodology to agency rules rather than specifying it in statute. No specific opposing or supporting groups were identified in the provided materials.