OLYMPIA — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today that it will transition away from accepting cash for license product purchases at its offices next month due to a new state law motivated by the national phase-out of the penny.
Legislation that passed the Washington Legislature last session directs Washington retailers to begin rounding the cost of in-person cash transactions to avoid the need for pennies, which the U.S. Mint no longer produces. Due to a variety of logistic challenges, WDFW opted to eliminate in-person cash transactions for licensing products — such as hunting and fishing licenses and transport tags — purchased from WDFW offices rather than rounding the cost of transactions.
“We estimated that it would cost the Department tens of thousands of dollars and half of our contracted annual vendor work hours to update our point-of-sale system to accommodate rounding the cost of transactions,” explained Jennine Griffo, WDFW licensing division manager. “Ultimately, we decided to eliminate cash transactions for licensing product sales at WDFW offices so we could better use that funding and vendor capacity for system enhancements or future updates.”
The law directs retailers to make required changes within a set timeframe after the bill was signed. To meet this requirement, the Department plans to stop accepting cash for license product purchases at WDFW offices on June 11, 2026.
WDFW license dealers can continue to accept cash transactions if they choose, consistent with the requirements of the new law. A list of WDFW license dealer locations is available on WDFW’s website.
Customers can also continue to buy license products online and through the agency’s MyWDFW or Fish Washington® apps.
WDFW works to preserve, protect, and perpetuate fish, wildlife, and ecosystems while providing sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial opportunities.