The US will produce a one cent coin through the end of 2005. This includes any coin by any name worth 1/100th of a US dollar. This coin may be produced directly by the US mint or by another party with the authorization of the US treasury.
If, before the claim date, it becomes the official policy of the Treasury Department to permanently stop producing the 1 cent coin before Jan 1 2006, this claim will be judged FALSE, even if that policy is subsequently changed. To judge the claim FALSE, any announced stoppage must be intended to be permanent.
I will judge this claim according to its intent, rather than the strict interpretation of the words. For example, if the name of the department responsible for decisions about minting coins is not US Treasury at the relevant time, I will treat the responsible department as authoritative. If there is a conflict between the text and my perception of the claim's intent, I will consult with fx-discuss before rendering a judgement.
As currently written, the "Legal Tender Modernization Act" would require that cash payments be rounded to the nearest $.05. It would also allow the Secretary of the Treasury the discretion to stop producing pennies. The passage of the act itself would not be sufficient to satisfy this claim. Following the passage of the act, the statements of the Secretary of the Treasury (or official statements of the Department of the Treasury) would be used to determine their policy. Since the bill allows the Secretary discretion to produce pennies intermittently, the policy would have to clearly state that any intended cessation was to be permanent in order to satisfy the claim.
