I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2630 
To make it unlawful for any physical retail establishment to refuse to accept 
cash as payment, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 9, 2019 
Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PRESSLEY, 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. VEASEY, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To make it unlawful for any physical retail establishment 
to refuse to accept cash as payment, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited to as the ‘‘CASH Act’’ or the 
‘‘Cash Always Should be Honored Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REQUIRED ACCEPTANCE OF LEGAL TENDER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any phys-
ical retail establishment to refuse to accept legal tender 
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as payment for any products or services offered for sale 
by such physical retail establishment. 
(b) ONLINE TRANSACTIONS.—For any physical retail 
establishment that also offers products and services for 
sale through an internet-based platform, subsection (a) 
shall not apply to a transaction conducted through such 
platform if the individual making a payment in such trans-
action is not physically present in the physical retail estab-
lishment at the time of the transaction. 
(c) TELEPHONE TRANSACTIONS.—For any physical 
retail establishment that also offers products and services 
for sale by way of the telephone, subsection (a) shall not 
apply to a transaction conducted by way of the telephone 
if the individual making a payment in such transaction 
is not physically present in the physical retail establish-
ment at the time of the transaction. 
(d) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS-
SION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—A violation of subsection (a) shall be treated 
as a violation of a regulation under section 
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
(15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or decep-
tive acts or practices. 
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(2) POWERS
OF
COMMISSION.—The Federal 
Trade Commission shall enforce subsection (a) in 
the same manner, by the same means, and with the 
same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 
applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor-
porated into and made a part of this section. Any 
person who violates this section shall be subject to 
the penalties and entitled to the privileges and im-
munities provided in the Federal Trade Commission 
Act. 
(3) RULEMAKING.—The Federal Trade Com-
mission may promulgate regulations under section 
553 of title 5, United States Code, to implement this 
section. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section: 
(1) LEGAL TENDER.—The term ‘‘legal tender’’ 
means any United States coin or currency. 
(2) PHYSICAL RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
term ‘‘physical retail establishment’’ means any 
physical establishment where goods or services are 
offered for sale and sold to individuals who are phys-
ically present in such physical establishment. 
Æ 
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