I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4395 
To prohibit retail businesses from refusing cash payments, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2021 
Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, 
Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. BEATTY, Mrs. CAROLYN B. 
MALONEY of New York, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. STEWART, Ms. LEE of Cali-
fornia, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. KUSTOFF, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. DA-
VIDSON, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. ROSE, Mrs. 
HAYES, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. POSEY, 
Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. LAWSON 
of Florida, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, 
and Mr. CARSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To prohibit retail businesses from refusing cash payments, 
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 as the ‘‘Payment Choice Act 
of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that every consumer has 
the right to use cash at retail businesses who accept in- 
person payments. 
SEC. 3. RETAIL BUSINESSES PROHIBITED FROM REFUSING 
CASH PAYMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 51 of title 
31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘§ 5104. Retail businesses prohibited from refusing 
cash payments 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person engaged in the busi-
ness of selling or offering goods or services at retail to 
the public who accepts in-person payments at a physical 
location (including a person accepting payments for tele-
phone, mail, or internet-based transactions who is accept-
ing in-person payments at a physical location)— 
‘‘(1) shall accept cash as a form of payment for 
sales made at such physical location in amounts less 
than $2,000; and 
‘‘(2) may not charge cash-paying customers a 
higher price compared to the price charged to cus-
tomers not paying with cash. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 
a person if the person— 
‘‘(1) is unable to accept cash because of— 
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‘‘(A) a sale system failure that temporarily 
prevents processing cash payments; or 
‘‘(B) temporarily having insufficient cash 
on hand to make change; or 
‘‘(2) provides customers with a device that con-
verts cash into prepaid cards on the premises— 
‘‘(A) if— 
‘‘(i) there is no fee for the use of the 
device; 
‘‘(ii) the device does not require a 
minimum deposit of more than one dollar; 
‘‘(iii) any funds placed onto a prepaid 
card using the device do not expire; 
‘‘(iv) the device allows customers to 
redeem any unused balance for cash at any 
time; 
‘‘(v) the device does not collect any 
personal identifying information from the 
customer; and 
‘‘(vi) there is no fee to use the prepaid 
card that the device produces; and 
‘‘(B) regardless of whether there is a limit 
to the number of transactions on such cards. 
‘‘(c) RIGHT TO NOT ACCEPT LARGE BILLS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 
(a), for the 5-year period beginning on the date of 
the enactment of this section, this section does not 
require a person to accept cash payments in $100 
bills or any larger bill. 
‘‘(2) RULEMAKING.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
issue a rule on the date that is the end of the 
5-year period beginning on the date of the en-
actment of this section with respect to any bills 
a person is not required to accept. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—When issuing a rule 
under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall re-
quire persons to accept $1, $5, $10, $20 and 
$50 bills. 
‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) PREVENTATIVE
RELIEF.—Whenever any 
person has engaged, or there are reasonable grounds 
to believe that any person is about to engage in any 
act or practice prohibited by this section, a civil ac-
tion for preventive relief, including an application for 
a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining 
order, or other order may be brought against such 
person. 
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‘‘(2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any person who vio-
lates this section shall— 
‘‘(A) be liable for actual damages; 
‘‘(B) be fined not more than $2,500 for a 
first offense; and 
‘‘(C) be fined not more than $5,000 for a 
second or subsequent offense. 
‘‘(3) JURISDICTION.—An action under this sec-
tion may be brought in any United States district 
court, or in any other court of competent jurisdic-
tion. 
‘‘(4) INTERVENTION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 
Upon timely application, a court may, in its discre-
tion, permit the Attorney General to intervene in a 
civil action brought under this subsection, if the At-
torney General certifies that the action is of general 
public importance. 
‘‘(5) AUTHORITY TO APPOINT COURT-PAID AT-
TORNEY.—Upon application by an individual and in 
such circumstances as the court may determine just, 
the court may appoint an attorney for such indi-
vidual and may authorize the commencement of a 
civil action under this subsection without the pay-
ment of fees, costs, or security. 
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