Ohio is moving to put paper money back at the center of the checkout line, even as big-box chains race toward tap-and-go payments and cashierless lanes. Lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would require retailers like Walmart and Costco to once again guarantee a cash option at the register, reshaping how shoppers pay and how stores design their front ends.
The fight over cash is about more than nostalgia for dollar bills. It is emerging as a test of who gets to participate in the modern economy, how much control retailers have over their own operations, and whether the state should step in when technology leaves some customers behind.
What Ohio’s CASH bill would actually do
At the heart of the debate is a proposal widely known as the Currency Access to Spend Here, or CASH, Act, which would require businesses and government offices in Ohio to accept physical money for in-person transactions. The measure is aimed squarely at the growing number of stores that steer customers toward cards and apps, including self-checkout systems that no longer take bills or coins, and it would effectively force large chains to maintain at least one way to pay with cash at every location. The legislation is described as the Currency Access to Spend Here, spelled out as the CASH Act, and it is framed as a guarantee that people who rely on paper currency can still use it in daily life, a requirement that would apply to retailers as large as Walmart, Target and Costco that have leaned heavily into card-only kiosks and mobile payments, according to descriptions of the Currency Access rules.
In the Ohio Legislature, the proposal is moving under the name Senate Bill 30, which would enact section 1333.97 of the Revised Code and explicitly states that retail merchants must give customers the option to pay by cash. A separate legislative tracker describes the same effort in its Bill Summary as a requirement that merchants provide a cash option alongside credit and debit cards, emphasizing that the law is designed to protect people who either lack access to plastic or simply prefer using bills and coins, language that is reflected in the Bill Summary for the measure.
Why lawmakers are targeting Walmart, Costco and other big chains
Supporters in Columbus are not shy about the fact that the bill would land hardest on national retailers that have embraced cashless or card-first models. Large-format stores like Walmart, Costco and Target have aggressively expanded self-checkout, and in some locations those lanes accept only cards or digital wallets, leaving shoppers who carry only cash to hunt for a staffed register or walk away. The pending Ohio bill is written broadly enough that it would require those chains to ensure at least one point of sale in every store where customers can hand over dollar bills, a change that would directly affect how companies such as Walmart, Costco and Target configure their front ends and self-checkout areas, according to descriptions of how the Ohio bill would apply to big-box retailers…