SENATE BILL: Eliminating small Dollar denominations Act (Passed)

[Former President tack50]

Basically, the Atlasian government wastes millions of dollars of taxpayer money each year by minting pennies, which are actually worth more than one penny when melted down!

This bill seeks to end that insanity and eliminate the penny from currency. I am sure this will not please Big Zinc (which is a real thing!) but who cares, it's not like lobbyists are paying us

This bill also seeks to replace dollar bills with dollar coins. While bills are cheaper to produce, they are also less durable, so for high turnover bills like 1$ bills, it is better to just have coins instead.

Section 4 includes some provisions regarding how exactly the transition would work, mostly carried over from the "Currency of Atlasia Act from 2017.

[Former President tack50]

Well, as someone who does deal with having 1 and 2€ coins daily, I can assure you they are just every bit as convenient as bills (or maybe it is because I am already used to them so I don't notice).

Our neighbours to the north (Canada) also abolished the 1$ Canadian bills in favour of 1 and 2$ coins for what is worth.

Also introducing the following amendment as I have realized that the nickel is also more expensive to manufacture than 0.05$:

A BILL
To get rid of small denominations in Atlasian currency

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the Eliminating small Dollar denominations Act.

Section 2. Eliminating small dollar denominations

1. Beginning on January 1st, 2021; The Atlasian Mint shall not produce any more Pennies or coins that are worth 1 Atlasian cent (1% of one Atlasian Dollar); or any other sort of coin worth less than a Nickel (5 Atlasian cents, or 5% of an Atlasian Dollar).

2. Beginning on January 1st, 2021; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing may not print any bill that is worth less than 5 Atlasian dollars (500% of one Atlasian Dollar); including but not limited to 1 and 2$ bills.

3. The Atlasian Mint shall revise the composition of the nickel (0.05$ coin) and change its manufacturing process and composition in such a way that the manufacturing cost of the coin falls below its nominal value. This shall be done before July 31st, 2021. If this is not possible, the Atlasian Mint shall cease the coinage of the nickel (0.05$ coin) by July 31st, 2021.

4. Prices may still be displayed by stores and other sellers though 2 full decimal places.

5. If a consumer is paying with a credit card, cheque or other form of payment where the exact amount can be paid; the seller must deduct the exact amount the buyer owes. If the consumer is paying with cash, the transaction's final price shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 cents.

Section 3. Amending old legislation

1. Section II.1 of the "The Currency of Atlasia Act" shall be amended as follows:

  a. Penny - shall be worth 1¢ (or equivalent 1% of the $1 dollar bill).
        a. Nickel - shall be worth 5¢ (or equivalent 5% of $1 dollar).
        b. Dime - shall be worth 10¢ (or equivalent 10% of $1 dollar).
        c. Quarter - shall be worth 25¢ (or equivalent 25% of $1 dollar).
        d. Dollar - shall be worth 1$ (or equivalent 100% of 1$ dollar)
        e. Two Dollar - shall be worth 2$ (or equivalent 200% of 1$ dollar)

2. Section III.1 of the "The Currency of Atlasia Act" shall be amended as follows

a. $1 bill
        a. $5 bill
        b. $10 bill
        c. $20 bill
        d. $50 bill
        e. $100 bill
        f. $200 bill

3. Section 2.1 shall be implemented in a way compatible with the Au Revoir to Useless Coins Act

Section 4. Enactment

1. This bill shall go into effect immediately after passage
2. Old coins and bill shall remain legal tender until December 31st, 2023
3. After December 31st, 2023; all legal tender minted before said date shall be able to be exchanged for its equivalent legal tender minted after said date at bureaux de change. However, 1 cent coins must be exchanged in full multiples of 5 with no rounding.

[Former President tack50]

Don't think the general public can formally propose amendments, but if a Senator sponsors it I am declaring it not friendly.

[Former President tack50]

Also, I just realized Congress already dealt with the issue of the penny in the Au Revoir to Useless Coins Act.

In any case, that bill seems to not have really thought much about the consequences of the elimination of the penny, so I have edited my previous amendment (given that Yankee hasn't proposed an objections period to it yet) in order to account for the fact that the penny is already gone

[Former President tack50]

The penny being already gone kind of undermines the point of this - I don’t really see a gain with switching to $1 and $2 coins - a lot of infrastucture will have to be modified and there aren’t any clear benefits to doing that.

Fron what I can tell this would save the government money because coins last longer than a bill and therefore there is less need to produce currency

[Former President tack50]

The penny being already gone kind of undermines the point of this - I don’t really see a gain with switching to $1 and $2 coins - a lot of infrastucture will have to be modified and there aren’t any clear benefits to doing that.

Fron what I can tell this would save the government money because coins last longer than a bill and therefore there is less need to produce currency

What is the estimated difference in time durability? And then the follow up to that is does the savings of that outweigh the up front costs that Sestak discussed?

From what I can tell the average dollar note tends to last somewhere between 5 and 6 years on average. Meanwhile the average coin stays in circulation for 6 times longer, for 30 years.

After a quick research, in real life proponents of abolishing the dollar bills in favour of coins claim the measure would save anywhere from 4 to 6 billion $. Opponents argue that because bills now last longer because they are built of better quality and used less thanks to the rise in credit cards and what not, it would actually lose mone to make a switch, somewhere between 500 million and 1.5 billion $.

Taking the average of these values I suppose it will save Atlasia around 3 billion dollars overall?

For what's worth it would also bring Atlasia in-line with the rest of the world as it is one of the last developed countries remaining that still uses low denomination bills instead of coins.

[Former President tack50]

I object to the amendment.

While I disagree I get why people would want to keep the dollar bills. I most certainly do not see why anyone would want to keep the penny

[Former President tack50]

Nay

[Former President tack50]

Even if the penny is gotten rid of you have to keep the dollar. Dollar coins aren't really a thing here and you can't just introduce them and expect people to use them.

I mean, that is the point of the bill, to actually make dollar coins a thing? In seriously doubt people would jump fron 25 cents all the way to 5 dollars with no in between

[Former President tack50]

This is essencially the same as the LT amendment except it is not removing the penny anymore?

Objecting to the amendment

However, I fear there is no apetite for a removal of the 1 dollar bill so I will draft an alternative amendment that keeps the 1 dollar bill in circulation

[Former President tack50]

Here is my new amendment. Given the feedback this keeps the dollar bill in circulation as I do not think there is enough support in the Senate to get rid of it.

This also adds a 50 cents coin, which I do not think currently exists?

A BILL
To get rid of small denominations in Atlasian currency

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the Eliminating small Dollar denominations Act Dollar currency reorganization Act.

Section 2. Eliminating small dollar denominations

1. Beginning on January 1st, 2021; The Atlasian Mint shall not produce any more Pennies or coins that are worth 1 Atlasian cent (1% of one Atlasian Dollar); or any other sort of coin worth less than a Nickel (5 Atlasian cents, or 5% of an Atlasian Dollar).

2. Beginning on January 1st, 2021; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing may not print any bill that is worth less than 5 Atlasian dollars (500% of one Atlasian Dollar); including but not limited to 1 and 2$ bills.

3. The Atlasian Mint shall revise the composition of the nickel (0.05$ coin) and change its manufacturing process and composition in such a way that the manufacturing cost of the coin falls below its nominal value. This shall be done before July 31st, 2021. If this is not possible, the Atlasian Mint shall cease the coinage of the nickel (0.05$ coin) by July 31st, 2021.

4. Prices may still be displayed by stores and other sellers though 2 full decimal places.

5. If a consumer is paying with a credit card, cheque or other form of payment where the exact amount can be paid; the seller must deduct the exact amount the buyer owes. If the consumer is paying with cash, the transaction's final price shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 cents; or of 10 cents if the nickel is also eliminated. If it is not possible to do a perfect rounding as the price falls exactly on a multiple of 5 cents, the price shall be rounded down.

Section 3. Amending old legislation

1. Section II.1 of the "The Currency of Atlasia Act" shall be amended as follows:

  a. Penny - shall be worth 1¢ (or equivalent 1% of the $1 dollar bill).
        a. Nickel - shall be worth 5¢ (or equivalent 5% of $1 dollar).
        b. Dime - shall be worth 10¢ (or equivalent 10% of $1 dollar).
        c. Quarter - shall be worth 25¢ (or equivalent 25% of $1 dollar).
        d. Half Dollar - shall be worth 50¢ (or equivalent 50% of $1 dollar)
        d. Dollar - shall be worth 1$ (or equivalent 100% of 1$ dollar)
        e. Two Dollar - shall be worth 2$ (or equivalent 200% of 1$ dollar)

2. Section III.1 of the "The Currency of Atlasia Act" shall be amended as follows

      a. $1 bill
        b. $5 bill
        c. $10 bill
        d. $20 bill
        e. $50 bill
        f. $100 bill
        g. $200 bill

3. Section 2.1 shall be implemented in a way compatible with the Au Revoir to Useless Coins Act

Section 4. Enactment

1. This bill shall go into effect immediately after passage
2. Old coins and bill shall remain legal tender until December 31st, 2023
3. After December 31st, 2023; all legal tender minted before said date shall be able to be exchanged for its equivalent legal tender minted after said date at bureaux de change. However, 1 cent coins must be exchanged in full multiples of 5 with no rounding.

[Former President tack50]

I object to tack's amendment. I get the reasons why some oppose the penny, but eliminating the nickel would be disastrous.

This only eliminates the nickel if it is impossible to replace its composition?

I imagine a very likely scenario would be the nickel switching to a combination of stainless steel and copper; much more likely than nothing at all

[Former President tack50]

Ok, so my amendment does not get rid of the nickel. It only does so if the composition is impossible to revise, which I think is unlikely (though it does require GM confirmation). Scott is correct here.

Anyways if that is where the Senate is concerned, withdrawing my amendment and replacing it with this one instead. Would this be acceptable to everyone?

A BILL
To get rid of small denominations in Atlasian currency

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the Eliminating small Dollar denominations Act Dollar currency reorganization Act.

Section 2. Eliminating small dollar denominations

1. Beginning on January 1st, 2021; The Atlasian Mint shall not produce any more Pennies or coins that are worth 1 Atlasian cent (1% of one Atlasian Dollar); or any other sort of coin worth less than a Nickel (5 Atlasian cents, or 5% of an Atlasian Dollar).

2. Beginning on January 1st, 2021; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing may not print any bill that is worth less than 5 Atlasian dollars (500% of one Atlasian Dollar); including but not limited to 1 and 2$ bills.

3. The Atlasian Mint shall revise the composition of the nickel (0.05$ coin) and change its manufacturing process and composition in such a way that the manufacturing cost of the coin falls below its nominal value. This shall be done before July 31st, 2021. If this is not possible, the Atlasian Mint shall cease the coinage of the nickel (0.05$ coin) by July 31st, 2021. continue minting the nickel as usual

4. Prices may still be displayed by stores and other sellers though 2 full decimal places.

5. If a consumer is paying with a credit card, cheque or other form of payment where the exact amount can be paid; the seller must deduct the exact amount the buyer owes. If the consumer is paying with cash, the transaction's final price shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 cents.

Section 3. Amending old legislation

1. Section II.1 of the "The Currency of Atlasia Act" shall be amended as follows:

  a. Penny - shall be worth 1¢ (or equivalent 1% of the $1 dollar bill).
        a. Nickel - shall be worth 5¢ (or equivalent 5% of $1 dollar).
        b. Dime - shall be worth 10¢ (or equivalent 10% of $1 dollar).
        c. Quarter - shall be worth 25¢ (or equivalent 25% of $1 dollar).
        d. Half Dollar - shall be worth 50¢ (or equivalent 50% of $1 dollar)
        d. Dollar - shall be worth 1$ (or equivalent 100% of 1$ dollar)
        e. Two Dollar - shall be worth 2$ (or equivalent 200% of 1$ dollar)

2. Section III.1 of the "The Currency of Atlasia Act" shall be amended as follows

      a. $1 bill
        b. $5 bill
        c. $10 bill
        d. $20 bill
        e. $50 bill
        f. $100 bill
        g. $200 bill

3. Section 2.1 shall be implemented in a way compatible with the Au Revoir to Useless Coins Act

Section 4. Enactment

1. This bill shall go into effect immediately after passage
2. Old coins and bill shall remain legal tender until December 31st, 2023
3. After December 31st, 2023; all legal tender minted before said date shall be able to be exchanged for its equivalent legal tender minted after said date at bureaux de change. However, 1 cent coins must be exchanged in full multiples of 5 with no rounding.

[/quote]

[Former President tack50]

Anyways

Nay

[Former President tack50]

Well, screw this. I guess there is no way for the "original vision" I had to be kept so this is as good as it will get I suppose.

There does not seem to be the apetite for a 50 cent coin, a 1 or 2$ coin (replacing the 1$ notes) or a 200$ bill.

Withdrawing the amendment.

[Former President tack50]

The amendment is friendly

[Former President tack50]

Aye