Dive Brief:Th e U.S. Senate has passed a bill providing a federal framework for how businesses can round cash transactions given the decline of 1-cent coins since the government stopped minting pennies last year. Merchants need the legislation because rounding “can create conflicts with consumer protection laws at the state level,” Armstrong said. More than a dozen states have moved ahead “with various types of rounding legislation that necessarily complicates issues for us,” he said. RILA and other trade groups hope to move the bill from Congress to President Donald Trump in September, he said. Senators passed the bill Friday evening using a “hotline process” to query each senator to sign off on the bill, allowing the legislation to move quickly, Armstrong said.