GOVERNOR MURPHY SIGNS END OF PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
EMV COMPLIANCE REMINDER
NJGCA SCHOLARSHIP: APPLY TODAY!
NJGCA CENSUS - PLEASE PARTICIPATE
PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS
Tuesday was the primary election for this year's state elections, and nominees were chosen for Governor, state Senate, and Assembly. Gov. Phil Murphy ran unopposed in his primary. The Republican nominee will be former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who was the top vote-getter in all 21 counties and defeated his closest opponent, Rev. Phil Rizzo, 49%-26%. Most races for state legislature were unopposed, though a few major battles were fought. Asm. Gordon Johnson decisively defeated his former running mate Asw. Valerie Vainieri Huttle in the democratic primary for state Senate in the 37th district (Bergen County). Senator Joe Cryan also won big against a challenge in the 20th district (Union County) from one of his former running mates, Asm. Jamel Holley. Two Republican Assemblywomen were defeated in their primary bids for reelection after losing the support of their home county's political powerbrokers--Asw. Serena DiMaso (Monmouth) and Asw. BettyLou DeCroce (Morris). This November we will be electing a governor and all 120 seats in the state legislature. NJGCA's candidate surveys will be mailed soon to all primary winners and the results printed in our October edition of On the Road.
PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
On Friday Governor Murphy signed into law legislation that winds down much of the COVID-19 emergency rules still in effect. The "Public Health Emergency," which he had renewed every 30 days since March of last year, ended effective immediately. Most of his Executive Orders will now automatically expire on July 4th. Some will remain in effect, but these mostly deal directly with healthcare providers and information reporting rather than business regulations. This means the provisions of EO 192, dealing with the remaining masking requirements and other employee focused protections will remain in effect until that date. You can read last week's RW for the details of those Executive Orders.
EMV COMPLIANCE
Last week, we notified you of card companies issuing chargebacks to stations that are not EMV compliant. Depending on who you are using to process your credit cards, some suppliers are sending chargebacks on purchases made from a non-EMV compliant terminal and claiming fraudulence, but are failing to include any information that shows fraud occurred. Members continue to contact us that they have been receiving chargebacks without any documentation concerning the reason for the chargeback.
You know what I'm going to say here as I've been saying it for the last five years now: It is beyond time to become EMV compliant. Though members continue to call with these issues, I would prefer not to receive a flood of these calls because there really isn't anything I can do for you at this point, these are the rules. There isn't anything we can do for you other than encourage you to prevent the problem from occurring by becoming EMV compliant. However, we have heard that not only is EMV equipment back ordered, but installation is booked up for weeks on end as well, and you may be waiting a while to get in compliance. We knew this would happen and we warned you this would happen. At the moment, if you are not EMV compliant, you are exposing your business to fraud. Reduce your exposure, email us TODAY to help you get into compliance. Email Nick at nick@njgca.org for more information.
Our MBP Sound Payments will be hosting a free webinar June 17th at 2 PM on how to easily and cost-effectively upgrade your pumps to support EMV and prevent chargebacks. Click HERE to sign up to join.
SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT
For our members with college-aged children or employees, take advantage of scholarship money available! We are able to bring the scholarship to your attention thanks to the generosity of the Utica Insurance Company that insures many of our members through the Amato Agency for business liability, as well as the NJGCA Board of Directors that approved a matching amount. Applicants can be a child of a member, an employee of a member, or a child of an employee of the member, and each member may submit one application per membership. You as the business owner and member get to choose the applicant to be submitted. However, to be clear, each membership is only permitted to submit ONE application. There is a total of $10,000 in scholarship money to be distributed. The $5,000 contribution from Utica Insurance who provides NJGCA members with liability business insurance through our MBP Amato Agency, must be used for a student who is attending an automotive technical trade school. The NJGCA contribution of $5,000 can be used for a student attending any college, university, or trade school other than automotive. If you have questions, email michelle@njgca.org.
Applications should be printed and mailed back to NJGCA. Applications must include the requested transcripts. Applications must be postmarked before the application deadline of July 13, 2021, and must be received at NJGCA Headquarters by July 19th, 2021. Click HERE to view the application.
NJGCA CENSUS
Our census project is underway and if you have not received a call yet, expect a call from someone on the NJGCA staff to update our data. We want to be especially sure we are capturing geographical information in order to contact every legislator that may represent you at both home and business. We also need to be sure we have correct email addresses in order to send you fast and timely information to keep you updated. We want to have every available means to contact members in the event of another emergency such as Superstorm Sandy. We have not updated this information in many years, and having this accurate info will be helpful to us when we communicate with you and legislators. Please be cooperative when you are called.
In order to make this process as seamless as possible for you, we have also created an online version to complete this information yourself. You are permitted to fill out the information online or wait to be called by staff. Please be sure you are completing the entire survey, as each question contains data that could be used to help persuade legislators.
The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline announced Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the controversial project after the Biden administration revoked its permit in January.The cancellation ends more than a decade of controversy over the pipeline and marks a big win for environmentalists who argued the project threatened the environment and would only worsen the climate crisis. The project aimed to carry oil from the tar sands of Canada into the United States, and it has been a political football for years.
The growth of electric vehicles has slowed in the United States, while continuing to increase in Europe and China, the Pew Research Center reports. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 7% of U.S. adults indicated they currently drive an EV or hybrid vehicle. Thirty-nine percent said they were very or somewhat likely to purchase an EV for their next car. Outside of a handful of U.S. metropolitan areas, EVs aren't very common. Despite rapid growth in absolute terms recently, electric vehicles still form a very small percentage of vehicles in the United States. By 2020, close to 1.8 million EVs were registered, a three-fold jump from 2016, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Soon, Japan's foodservice operators will stop distributing free plastic forks, spoons and containers under a new, nationwide law that aims to eliminate waste. According to Asia.Nikkei.com, companies that use large amounts of single-use plastic will be required to ask customers whether they want utensils and charge a fee for them or switch to handing out utensils made from biodegradable materials. Violators risk fines of up to 500,000 yen (about US$4,500) for repeated violations.
Business owners are giving thanks for teenagers this summer, reports the Wall Street Journal, as they recruit young workers during the nationwide labor shortage. As a result, the nation's teen unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1953, and the number of working teens is the highest it has been since 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. . .U.S. businesses are grappling with a national labor shortage and are trying to attract workers that have been put off by demanding customers, low pay and pandemic health concerns.
The White House warned American businesses on Thursday to take urgent security measures to protect against ransomware attacks, as hackers shift their tactics from stealing data to disrupting critical infrastructure. The bluntly worded open letter followed a string of escalating ransomware attacks that stopped gasoline and jet fuel from flowing up the East Coast and closed off beef and pork production from one of the country's leading food suppliers.
President Biden offered a series of concessions to try to secure a $1 trillion infrastructure deal with Senate Republicans in an Oval Office meeting this week, narrowing both his spending and tax proposals as negotiations barreled into the final days of what could be an improbable agreement or a blame game that escalates quickly. . .The talks are being sustained by a desire among lawmakers in both parties to reach agreement over what has been a longstanding but elusive goal in Congress: repairing and enhancing the country's network of roads, bridges, water pipes and other physical infrastructure. Both sides are trying to win favor with the moderate congressional Democrats, particularly in the Senate, who will ultimately decide the fate of the president's $4 trillion economic agenda.
Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.
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