Current Legislative Initiatives
Payment Choice Act of 2025
Even though current federal law declares that U.S. coins and currency “are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues,” more and more of the nation’s retailers now refuse to accept payments offered in cash and, instead, require their customers to pay for purchases only with credit or debit cards, smartphone apps, or other digital forms of payment.
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The Coalition has been working with U.S. Representatives John Rose (R-TN) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and John Fetterman (D-PA), in the development of H.R. 1138 and S. 2326, the Payment Choice Act of 2025 (the “PCA”), introduced in the House on February 7 and in the Senate on July 17.
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The PCA, which twice passed the House on bipartisan votes in the previous Congress, but then failed to get to a vote in the Senate, would guarantee the right of U.S. consumers, subject to certain reasonable exceptions, to pay with cash for in-person retail purchases of goods and services at brick-and-mortar merchants.
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For those Americans in the nearly 6 million U.S. households that, according to FDIC data, are unbanked, and the more than 18 million other households that are underbanked, being able to pay with cash is not just a matter of convenience or preference—too often, it’s the only means available to them for buying their everyday necessities.
Cashless policies disproportionately harm seniors, minorities, immigrants, low-income populations, and working-class communities. Being able to pay with cash also is important for consumers seeking to safeguard the privacy of their personal financial information, and to avoid the risks of identity theft and fraud presented by noncash transactions.
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Moreover, when natural disasters or other unforeseen events result in widespread, and often prolonged, power outages, network or other systems failures or service interruptions, retailers that accept cash are able to continue to serve their customers and to fulfill those customers’ daily needs, when buying anything with credit or debit cards, or through other digital transactions, simply is impossible.
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We encourage you to contact your member of Congress and your senators in support of these initiatives. To find your member of Congress, click here.
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If you need assistance in identifying your representative, please contact us and we will be glad to assist you.
Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025
The Coalition also has been working with Representatives John Rose (R-TN) and Glenn Ivey (D-MD) in developing H.R. 1631, the Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025, introduced in the House of Representatives on May 17, and with Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who are preparing a companion bill to be introduced in the Senate.
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​The purpose of the Safe Access to Cash Act is to eliminate a glaring and serious omission in the federal Bank Robbery Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2113, which has resulted from the current widespread and growing use by banks, and their depositors, of technology that wasn’t available in 1934, when that statute was enacted for the purpose of making bank robbery a federal crime.
Under current law, crimes against any automated teller machine (ATM) terminal, or against anyone using or servicing an ATM, are violations of the federal Bank Robbery Act only when the ATM is owned by an insured financial institution and is located on the premises of the institution. Crimes against other ATMs, or anyone using or servicing them, currently are prosecutable only under state and local law.
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This proposed act would bring within the coverage of the federal Bank Robbery Act crimes committed (1) against independently owned ATMs, (2) against any ATM owned by an insured financial institution but not located on its premises, and (3) against anyone using, servicing, or loading cash into any such terminal, to the same extent that such crimes involving terminals that are owned by a financial institution, and located on its premises, already are covered by the federal act.
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According to data compiled by the FDIC, between 2002 and 2022, as a result of consolidation in the banking industry, the number of insured banks in the U.S. dropped by nearly half, from 9,354 to 4,756—a decline of 49.2 percent.
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It therefore should come as no surprise that more than half—almost 60 percent—of all ATMs now in service in the U.S. are independently owned, and, further, that as the numbers of banks and banking offices continue to decline, the incidence of crimes against or involving ATM terminals, and against customers using ATMs or personnel repairing, servicing, or loading cash into them, continues sharply increasing.
The Coalition believes that these circumstances make clear that it is time for Congress to update the federal Bank Robbery Act and level the playing field by enacting the Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025, and thereby providing to the users, servicers, and owners of independent ATMs, and of off-premises bank-owned ATMs, the same safeguards and protections that enforcement and prosecution by federal authorities, acting under federal law, already provide in the case of crimes against or involving the declining number of bank-owned ATMs that are located on bank premises.
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The bill has been endorsed by, among others, the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Independent Armored Car Operators Association, The National ATM Council, Inc., and the Secure Cash & Transport Association.
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We encourage you to contact your member of Congress and your senators in support of these initiatives. To find your member of Congress, click here.
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If you need assistance in identifying your representative, please contact us and we will be glad to assist you.