The composition in 2027 for the Jefferson 5-cent coin may be permanently changed for the first time in the denomination’s 161-year history (a prior change was only temporary), if proposed legislation currently under consideration receives congressional approval and is signed into law by President Trump.

The bipartisan bill H.R. 3074, the Common Cents Act, was introduced in the House of Representatives April 29, 2025, by Rep. Lisa C. McClain, R-Michigan, and co-introduced by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-California.

On Sept. 4, 2025, the bill was amended by the House Committee on Financial Services seeking to eliminate the cent denomination and change the composition of the 5-cent denomination.

Since the 5-cent coin was introduced in 1866 in the Shield series designed by Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre, the composition has been legislated as an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel, with a weight of 5 grams (except for during World War II, when, beginning in1942 and continuing to 1945, Jefferson 5-cent coins were temporarily struck from an alloy of 56% copper, 35%t silver, and 9% manganese; note added thanks to an alert reader).

H.R. 3074 seeks to change the composition to an outer layer of nickel bonded to an inner core of zinc with a weight of 4 to 6 grams, in an effort to reduce the per unit cost to strike and distribute the coin into general circulation.

The cost to produce and distribute each copper-nickel 5-cent coin in 2023, 2024 and 2025 was calculated to be more than double the denomination’s face value. According to the U.S. Mint’s Annual Reports, the 2023 cost per 5-cent coin was 11.54 cents; in 2024, 13.78 cents; and 2025, 13.31 cents.

Changing the composition is said to have no adverse effect on the coin’s use in vending operations, according to the proposed legislation.