SEVERAL BILLS SIGNED ON LAST LEGISLATIVE SESSION DAY
MEMBERSHIP DUES
All members who renew their membership in January received an email on 1/19/22 with an electronic invoice and a link to pay it. When you go to the site to pay you will have to retrieve your logon information as it has changed. You'll receive an email with the new information.
When you pay the invoice, you will receive a confirmation email. For all other members renewing throughout 2022, this is the new procedure for billing and payment. It is important to check your emails on or about the first of the month of your renewal. Reminder invoices will also be sent out on or about the first of the month. Any questions or concerns can be addressed by emailing accounting@njgca.org.
SELF-SERVE
Amidst our push to propose self-serve legislation, a nationwide labor shortage, and a rising minimum wage, Paul Mulshine recently wrote an opinion piece on why our state is the only one of 49 others that is still pushing stations to find employees to pump gas. Even with some of you offering well above the minimum wage, labor issues still persist. With our proposed legislation, customers could still choose whether or not they want to pump their own gas, with the potential to save 10 to 15 cents per gallon. We are expecting legislation to be introduced in the next few weeks. When it is finally introduced, I am going to need our members and supporters to contact legislators and possibly even speak with the media. Please reach out to me if you are interested in helping support these efforts: Sal@njgca.org.
INAUGURATION
On Tuesday, Governor Murphy was officially inaugurated into his second term as governor of New Jersey. In his speech, he largely spoke about continuing the policies he worked on in his first term. He did not propose any new initiatives during his speech other than to continue his political agenda. Lieutenant Governor Shelia Oliver will also continue on in her role as well.
BILLS SIGNED
On Tuesday, Governor Murphy also signed into law the last remaining bills on his desk from the now expired Legislature. There were a few bills he took action on which may affect your business:
All businesses which sell any tobacco products (except dedicated cigar stores), will now be required to offer for sale some form of FDA-approved nicotine replacement product. Examples include Nicorette gum or lozenges, which the manufacturer has begun offering in smaller packages designed to be sold in c-stores. Retailers have the ability to choose which products to offer for sale and for how much. If you sell out you have a five day window to order more and fourteen days total before the shelf must be restocked. Whatever product or products the store chooses to sell, they must be stocked behind the register. There must also be some kind of printed notice within the store that nicotine replacement therapy products are available for sale, as well as the phone number, internet address, and logo of the NJ Smoking Quitline found at https://www.njquitline.org/. This law takes effect on March 19, 2022. You can read the text of the bill here.
A-802 requires that all retail stores that sell gift cards must provide a basic training to their employees in how to identify and respond to gift card fraud. The training materials are required to be prepared by the Division of Consumer Affairs. The requirement goes into effect May 1, 2022 (assuming the State has prepared the materials). You can read about the issue of gift card fraud here.
Recycled Content Act- This is a complex bill that has been worked on for over two years. Its goal is to increase the amount of recycled content found in bottles and plastic containers. Thankfully, the burdens for compliance have fallen on the manufacturers of products, retailers are not responsible for checking to see how much recycled content is in every single product they want to sell. Manufacturers have had concerns with the bill, many of which have been addressed and it appears that they will be able to meet the demands set by the bill, and therefore continue to sell their products to retailers in the state. Retail stores are not defined as a manufacturer just because they make and package some food onsite. The main requirement for retailers is that it bans the sale of polystyrene foam loose fill packing, commonly called packing peanuts, effective January 2023.
The "Insurance Fair Conduct Act" will make it easier for plan holders to sue car insurance companies if they act in bad faith. That's good if you feel that your insurance company is deliberately holding out, but the insurance companies have said that in states like Florida with similar laws, trial attorneys have filed so many suits that insurance premiums have skyrocketed for everyone across the board, and they warn we may see much high car insurance costs in the years to come because of this law.
Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed a bill which would have eliminated the 1% tax on the transfer of commercial property worth over $1 million. The tax generates very little revenue, and its repeal was passed by the Legislature almost unanimously.
With the signing of these bills, the last of the 219th session of the state Legislature are finished. Every bill which did not become law must start the process over again, and on Inauguration Day over 3,000 bills were reintroduced, with several thousand more likely to be introduced in the next few session days. In each of the last two legislative sessions (which are two years long), over 11,400 bills were introduced by our 120 elected lawmakers. Only about 5% actually go through all the steps and become law. Gov. Murphy signed 1,355 bills into law in his four-year term, more than either Governor Corzine or Florio and only slightly less than the 1,597 Gov. Christie signed in eight years. Of the 11,427 bills introduced, NJGCA tracked 2,511 of them as having some kind of impact on your business, good or bad, if they were to become law. In just the last ten years, there has been a 42% increase in the number of bills introduced. Yet another reason why you NEED an association looking out for you in Trenton!
All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 4900 Route 33 West, Wall Township, NJ 07753
ASE Training Course - Reach Out Today!
Are you (or an employee) getting ready to take your A6, A8, or L1 in preparation to recertifying your Emission Repair Technician (ERT) credentials through the State's Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP)?
We can help --- but we need to hear from you, first! NJGCA wants to hear from students interested in our ASE-prep training program, so we can gauge demand and schedule our next session series.
As you know, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has always maintained a "dual-track" system to allow technicians to earn their Emission Repair Technician (ERT) credentials through New Jersey's Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP). In doing so, technicians were allowed to certify as ERTs through either an ASE-test track or an ETEP-educational class track. Starting on January 1, 2020, NJDEP amended the ETEP criteria, and the ETEP-educational class track was abolished.
Today, only the ASE-test track remains, and all ERTs must certify or re-certify their credentials though ASE to remain in the Program.
NJGCA has recently offered an ASE-prep class to help you get ready for the A6, A8, and L1. In doing so, students were welcome to participate in a ten-session preparatory class that covered material for all three ASE exams. We also had a handful of students who joined us only for the A8 or L1 sections.
Once completed, students took their ASE exams with a local ASE-approved test proctor (NJGCA can train you to prepare for the ASE exams, but are not permitted to offer the actual exam - students must make these arrangements individually themselves).
Building on that success, we are now seeking student participation in our next training series session. To make arrangements and organize a session, we need to hear from you!
There are 148,026 convenience stores operating in the United States, a 1.5% decrease in the number of stores from a year earlier, according to the 2022 NACS/NielsenIQ Convenience Industry Store Count. Convenience stores sell an estimated 80% of the motor fuels purchased by consumers in the United States. The new store count shows that 116,641 convenience stores sell motor fuels (78.8% of all convenience stores). There were 4,897 fewer stores selling motor fuels compared to the year prior, but a direct comparison is imprecise because the 2022 store count reflects a slight methodology change for c-stores that sell fuel.
Gas prices dipped slightly in New Jersey and remained unchanged around the nation despite an increase in crude oil prices. . . Analysts say the dip in demand is probably due to winter weather and the pandemic, but prices will probably rise with continued growth in the price of crude oil, which topped $80 a barrel this week for the first time this year.
1/15/22
Self-Serve Gas In New Jersey: Would It Work? New Jersey is the only state left in the nation to not offer any sort of self-serve at the pump. As far as we can remember, New Jersey has always had full-service when filling up your tank. With talks happening once again of introducing self-service, it brings up a simple question. Would it work? To be clear, there are many in this state who will flat-out refuse this. They won't care what the benefits are whatsoever and will come up with excuses as to why this should never happen here. So the best way to approach the question as to whether this would work would be to look at the typical person from New Jersey. Now before diving into why I believe most New Jersians are reluctant to have this, let's look at some of the pros of self-serve gas.
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its sweeping vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies, but allowed a vaccine mandate to stand for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments. The rulings came three days after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's emergency measure for businesses started to take effect. The mandate required that workers at businesses with 100 or more employees get vaccinated or submit a negative Covid test weekly to enter the workplace. It also required unvaccinated workers to wear masks indoors at work.
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.
Parts For Sale: Incon TS-1000 tank monitor works well just taken out of service. Printer is aprox 2 months old. Also, Incon 8, tank probes. System replaced because on an Exxon upgrade. Call John Twin Towers Exxon (201) 224-8444
