Texas House Subcommittee to Examine End of Penny Production, New Postal Rules

The Texas House Permanent Standing Subcommittee on State-Federal Relations will gavel in at 10 a.m. Aug. 17 to study how two recent federal decisions — the end of penny production and a rewrite of U.S. Postal Service postmarking rules — are rippling into the daily business of Texas local governments and the people who depend on them.

The panel will hear invited and public testimony, with public testimony subject to limits at the chair’s discretion, according to the hearing notice; written comments can be filed online until adjournment through the House comment portal.

Chaired by Rep. Carl Tepper, R–Lubbock, the three-member subcommittee — two Republicans and one Democrat, with Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, D–Dallas, as vice chair — meets in Room E1.026 of the Capitol Extension. The subcommittee’s narrow roster belies a broad portfolio: it is the House’s standing venue for questions about how federal policy shifts land on Texas, and Monday’s hearing takes up two changes that touch nearly every county tax office, utility counter and mailbox in the state.

The first charge, “Discontinuation of Penny Production,” directs members to study the impact on local governments now that the one-cent coin is no longer being made, and to consider whether the state should give cities and counties administrative guidance for handling the change. The U.S. Mint struck its final circulating penny at the Philadelphia Mint on Nov. 12, 2025, closing out a 232-year production run. The move, initiated by President Trump in February 2025 on cost grounds — each penny cost nearly 4 cents to make — leaves cash-handling entities, including local tax collectors and municipal courts, to decide how to round transactions as pennies gradually drain from circulation.

The second charge, “Federal Changes to Postmark Procedures,” examines how new postal rules affect access to public services and programs, and whether Texans need a public education campaign about them. Under a final rule that took effect Dec. 24, 2025, the date on a machine-applied postmark now reflects the first automated processing operation at a USPS facility rather than the day a piece of mail was dropped off — a change from the longstanding practice of same-day local postmarking. The National Taxpayer Advocate has warned the shift could affect whether mailed tax filings are treated as timely. The stakes reach beyond taxes: under Texas Election Code Chapter 86, mail ballots from voters within the state generally count only if postmarked by 7 p.m. on election day, making the postmark date a legal trigger in Texas elections, property tax payments and filing deadlines of all kinds.

Because this is an interim hearing, the subcommittee will take no votes on legislation. Its findings will inform any administrative-guidance or public-awareness measures members recommend to the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027.

Meeting at a glance

Committee members

• Rep. Carl Tepper, R–Lubbock (HD-84) — Chair
• Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, D–Dallas (HD-115) — Vice Chair
• Rep. Terri Leo Wilson, R–Galveston (HD-23)