This bill creates new law authorizing sellers and state agencies to round the total amount tendered in in-person cash transactions to the nearest five cents using specified rules: amounts ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents round down to the nearest five cents; amounts ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents round up; amounts ending in 0 or 5 cents are not rounded. Rounding applies only to legal U.S. coins and currency, does not apply to noncash payments, and in mixed-tender sales applies only to the cash portion. The rounding applies to the payment tendered and does not change the sales price, the tax owed or collected, or any fees; customers may pay the exact unrounded amount if they have exact legal tender. The bill adds new sections and chapters to state law and amends tax statutes to require that sellers calculate and remit state and local taxes and fees based on the selling price before any rounding. It excludes rounding-up amounts from application under chapter 82.04 RCW, disallows deductions for rounding-down adjustments under that chapter, and clarifies that sales and use tax must be calculated on the selling price without regard to rounding. The bill also preempts local ordinances that would prohibit or penalize the authorized rounding, states that rounding inconsistencies with displayed prices are not actionable under the consumer protection act, and specifies that RCW 82.32.805 and 82.32.808 do not apply to this act. Type of legal change: establishment of a new procedural payment rounding rule, preemption of local regulation on that procedure, and clarification/modification of existing tax law and revenue procedures. The provided text does not include an effective date, detailed enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or the full definitions referenced (for example, the full text of RCW 42.56.010 or the contents of RCW 82.32.805/.808), so those matters cannot be assessed from the extracted facts.

If enacted, retail sellers and state agencies could round the cash portion of in-person purchases to the nearest five cents using set rules, which will likely reduce the need to use pennies and simplify small-change transactions. Sellers must still calculate and remit all taxes and fees on the amount before rounding, customers can choose to pay the exact unrounded total if they have exact legal tender, and mixed-payment transactions can only be rounded on the cash portion. Local governments would no longer be able to ban or treat lawful rounding as a surcharge or penalty, and consumers cannot bring claims under the consumer protection act over inconsistencies between rounded receipts and advertised prices. The groups most affected are cash-handling businesses (retailers, restaurants, service providers), state and municipal tax authorities, and state agencies that accept cash; businesses will have a new operational option that may slightly shift tiny gains or losses from rounding but will retain the obligation to remit taxes on prerounded prices, and tax rules are clarified to prevent rounding from changing tax measures or allowing deductions for rounding-down. The text does not include an effective date or details on enforcement or administrative procedures, so timing and how compliance will be monitored or penalized remain unclear.