Don’t scoff at Idaho Republican legislator’s bill requiring businesses to accept cash

Should Idaho businesses be required to accept cash as payment?

That’s the interesting question that could be coming before the Idaho Legislature.

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, introduced a bill last week stating “a person who engages in business as a seller in this state shall accept cash as a method of payment along with any other methods of payment the seller may accept.”

The House State Affairs Committee agreed to print the bill, House Bill 256, after a lively discussion of its merits.

On its face, it seems like a silly thing. After all, we’re headed for a cashless society, right?

Some of us of a certain age can recall making sure we were never, ever without cash in our pocket or wallet. I recall that feeling of panic if I ran out of cash in my wallet.

Today, though? I seldom carry cash. I sometimes feel old just using a credit card instead of a smartphone with an electronic wallet.

Scott’s bill, as well, seems odd for a place like Idaho and for a legislator like Scott. Having the government tell a business what it can or cannot do was a point of contention from Rep. Ron Furniss, R-Rigby, who is an insurance agent.

He said he works with grocery stores who said handling cash is one of their biggest costs of doing business. If a business decides to cut out that cost altogether, he argued, the government shouldn’t tell that business how to run.

“Make capitalism work through that process,” Furniss told the committee. “So government comes in, says you’ve got to take cash. Why not let the free market worry about that, and if a business doesn’t want to have cash and put that on their door.”

To counter, Scott cited the federal Coinage Act of 1965 that states “U.S coins and currency are legal tender for all debts, public charges taxes and dues.”

Scott also argued that her bill is meant to protect people who don’t use credit cards.

“There are a lot of cases where some people that don’t have credit cards, or shouldn’t have credit cards at all,” Scott said. “And so we want to protect the minority groups that they can do that (pay cash). It doesn’t force them to use cash, but it does force (acceptance of cash) if that’s the only method, and a willing buyer wants to pay cash.”

Scott is not the only one concerned about the issue. Concerns about a so-called “cashless society” are not new and not limited to Idaho or even the United States.

In 2018, a group of Democratic and Independent council members in Washington, D.C., introduced the Cashless Retailers Prohibition Act, which would have made it illegal for restaurants and retailers not to accept cash or charge a different price to customers depending on the type of payment they use. The bill failed that year.

In Great Britain, a 2018 report, “Is Britain ready to go cashless?” showed that despite the increasing use of cards and electronic payments, approximately 8 million people (17% of population) said cash is an economic necessity.

The most recent study from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2017 found that 6.5% of U.S. households were “unbanked,” meaning that no one in the household had a checking or savings account.

That percentage has been dropping since tracking began in 2009, but it still represents approximately 8.4 million U.S. households, made up of 14.1 million adults and 6.4 million children.

An additional 18.7 percent of U.S. households were “underbanked” in 2017, meaning that the household had an account at an insured institution but also obtained financial products or services outside of the banking system, such as relying on money orders, check cashing, payday loans, refund anticipation loans, rent-to-own services, pawn shop loans or auto title loans.

Again, that rate has been dropping, but it still represented about 24.2 million households, composed of 48.9 million adults and 15.4 million children.

Those most negatively affected by a cashless society would be the elderly, low-income residents and minorities.

While the percentage of unbanked households is falling rapidly among young people, the percentage of those 55 and older who are unbanked is on the rise, according to the FDIC report.

Those who were unbanked or underbanked reported several factors, including not having enough money for a bank account, not being able to afford bank fees or being denied credit for a credit card. The FDIC report found that 47% of Black households are unbanked or underbanked.

The coronavirus pandemic brought the issue to the forefront in Idaho, according to Scott.

“With the recent COVID crisis there’s been so many businesses that are saying credit card only or no cash allowed,” Scott said.

In addition to Furniss’ objections, legitimate concerns arose about how to handle online purchases or someone bringing a “trunk load of cash” to a house closing or forcing a car dealership to accept a large cash payment that would require the dealership to hire an armored truck to come pick up the cash.

Scott said she hadn’t considered those issues and was more concerned about retail stores, such as Walmart, refusing to take cash for payment.

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, suggested some tweaks, such as adding retail stores and putting in a limit of up to $200.

Committee members voted to print the bill, with many members expressing an interest in learning more through a full hearing with testimony from retailers and other interested parties. The bill was referred to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee for a possible hearing.

It may seem odd to have one of Idaho Legislature’s most ardent defenders of state sovereignty and smaller government citing federal code to defend a bill that interferes with the free market in the name of protecting minorities and the poor.

But before you dismiss this bill as wacky windmill tilting, think again. It’s an issue that’s worth considering, and you might see an odd coalition of legislators from the left and the right come together to support the bill.

Scott McIntosh

Opinion Contributor,

Idaho Statesman

208-377-6202

Scott McIntosh is the Idaho Statesman opinion editor. A graduate of Syracuse University, he joined the Statesman in August 2019. He previously was editor of the Idaho Press and the Argus Observer and was the owner and editor of the Kuna Melba News. He has been honored for his editorials and columns as well as his education, business and local government watchdog reporting by the Idaho Press Club and the National Newspaper Association. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, The Idaho Way. Support my work with a digital subscription