Commissioner Proposes Cashless Prohibition and Self-Checkout Ordinances

BROOKSVILLE – Some interesting news coming out of this week’s Hernando Board of County Commission (BOCC) meeting, after a commissioner proposed two ordinances be considered to protect consumers.

During Tuesday’s BOCC meeting, Commissioner Steve Champion asked County Attorney Jon Jouben to research the possibility of passing a cashless prohibition. Champion, who also owns American Gun and Pawn, says some businesses are refusing to accept cash. “You go to a Bucs game, you go to a Lightning game, they don’t take cash. On top of that, they can charge you up to 4% to use a credit or debit card,” says Champion.

Miami-Dade County was first to pass a Cashless Prohibition and Champion says, “We could just copy it word-for-word.”

The Biden Administration has considered adopting a Central Bank Digital Currency, but Republicans are vehemently opposed the option, citing too much government control and privacy concerns.

The board unanimously agreed with Champion’s proposed ordinance.

Champion also introduced a move to end self-checkout service in Hernando County. Champion says there have been too many false allegations of theft from people inadvertently missing items at the checkout counter. “If I were the Sheriff or Prosecutor, I would refuse to prosecute theft cases.” Champion goes on to explain that big corporations tell you they are trying to save the consumer money by doing away with cashiers, but questions why a customer should be responsible for doing a cashier’s job and then held responsible for mistakes. Champion says, “I have to do your work, check your work, and you get paid for it.”

Commissioner John Allocco agrees but suggested that big corporate stores would most likely sue the county for loss of revenue, if a complete ban on self-checkout was adopted.

The board agreed that having a qualified cashier available at self-checkout who would be responsible for missed items would be a fair compromise.