NJGCA AWARDS FOUR EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS WITH SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
REMINDER: SUBMIT COMMENTS AGAINST MENTHOL BAN AND FLAVORED CIGAR BAN
MILEAGE BASED USER FEE PROGRAM
We have a quiet week this week since Trenton is currently on summer break until September. There's no legislative news and the market is in a freefall at the moment. There's not much news to report this week but we do have two items to bring to your attention:
Last week we talked about the mileage based user fee program and encouraged our members to participate. Gathering this data will be helpful to determine if any kind of a vehicle mileage tax should be implemented rather than increasing the gas tax. The more data that's collected, the more likely that some kind of a vehicle mile tax will be imposed on electric vehicles as the number of these vehicles on the road continues to rise. This will ease the financial burden on the need for higher gas taxes to replenish the transportation trust fund. The bottom line: People that are driving EVs are getting away with not paying a tax towards the transportation trust fund. These people are not your customers; your customers are subsidizing their use of the roads by paying a higher gas tax. We are encouraging you to participate in the study (either with personal or family vehicles) and you should also encourage customers, employees, and friends to sign up to collect this data. Participants who qualify can receive up to $100. Learn more about the incentive program at https://tetcoalitionmbuf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/MBUF-Incentive-Program.pdf
NJGCA SCHOLARSHIP
This week we celebrated the winners of this year's scholarship program. We had two scholarship awards to give thanks to the contribution from Utica and World Insurance Associates. Utica Insurance is the insurance company that insures many NJGCA members. Utica contributed $5000 towards a scholarship to a student attending an automotive technical school or studying automotive technology. The NJGCA Board of Directors also contributed towards a scholarship to an exceptional student. Thanks to the generosity of Utica as well as our Board, we were able to award four students scholarships this year to go towards college expenses. Congratulations to Jennifer Stamboulian and Josette Sapia on being awarded the NJGCA/Utica Scholarship and Taylor Anastasio and Jessica Twynam on receiving the NJGCA scholarship. We celebrated the winners this week at an awards dinner hosted by NJGCA, where we were able to present the winners with certificates in front of their families. We wish the winners continued success in all future endeavors.
If you have a child about to enroll in college, or an employee with a child about to enroll, keep an eye out for future announcements on next year's scholarship application.
Scholarship winner Jennifer Stamboulian with NJGCA Executive Director Sal Risalvato, Michael Enz (Utica Insurance), Joe Amato Jr. (World Insurance), and Joe Ocello (NJGCA Board President)
Scholarship winner Taylor Anastasio pictured with Joe Ocello and Sal Risalvato
Scholarship winner Jessica Twynam pictured with Joe Ocello and Sal Risalvato
REMINDER: SUBMIT COMMENTS AGAINST MENTHOL BAN AND FLAVORED CIGAR BAN
As you know, the federal government has officially proposed regulations that will completely ban the sale of menthol cigarettes nationwide and ban the sale of all kinds of flavored cigars, which by some estimates represent about half of cigar sales at C-Stores. The FDA is taking comments from those who will be affected by these rules. They need to hear from as many business owners as possible if there is going to be any way to either get them to change their minds, or even just increase the amount of time before such bans would take effect. Please take a moment to click the links below and submit comments. The process is easy, just write in the comment box, enter your email address, select that you are an individual, and hit submit.
We encourage you to personalize the message as much as you can, with details like how many people you employ, how long you've been in business, how much of your revenue is tied to these products, etc. Below is some sample language you can copy and paste, or use as a basis for your own comments. Unfortunately ,the FDA website doesn't allow us to use our regular VoterVoice system that allows you to easily contact legislators.
Note that even though the website says the due date is July 5th, it has been extended to August 2nd.
The link to submit comments on the menthol cigarette ban is:
As a convenience store owner, I urge you to repeal the proposed ban of these products. Prohibition policies don't work. Smokers will just purchase their preferred products illegally, buying counterfeit products shipped in by criminals from overseas. Our store always pays its cigarette taxes and checks IDs, someone selling through the black market won't. My small business stands to lose a huge portion of its sales should this ban become law. Store owners survive on the products smokers buy like coffee. Such a ban would not impact total smoking rates but it would hurt honest small business owners. The better policy is to continue having these products sold at regulated businesses, collect taxes on them, and then spend that revenue on anti-smoking efforts. Please cancel this planned regulation, thank you.
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!
NJ's Epic Stupidity On Full Display In Costco Gas Situation (Opinion) with so many more Costco gas stations in New Jersey and now that fuel prices have reached an all-time high in America even when adjusted to 2022 pricing, people began looking for cheaper gas any way they could. With Costco always having offered gas for less money, that meant much longer lines. Someone must have looked into the matter. Because it was suddenly announced after 18 years the company was going back to requiring a membership. How could it be? Government officials went scrambling looking for the old law under which they denied Costco from their business practice. They. couldn't. find. one. If no law exists now and if everyone in state government tasked with locating the old one came up dry, it must mean it never existed in the first place.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has agreed to delay Juul's case until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completes its reevaluation of JUUL products. The FDA will need to provide status updates to the court every 60 days. Additionally, the FDA will have an administrative stay in place for at least 30 days after it makes any decision to reinstate a marketing denial order (MDO) on JUUL products.
Fuel retailers know that when the price of crude oil drops, it's not immediately reflected at the pump. Many consumers don't realize fuel station owners set their gas prices based on what they initially paid to fill their underground tanks of gasoline and diesel. It can take days or even weeks to get through that supply, causing grumbles from customers that independent operators have to manage, reports the Wall Street Journal. Doug Robinson, who owns two gas stations in central Texas, says not only does he have to sell his fuel at whatever price he purchased it at, he risks losing money on every fuel order he places. Earlier this month, Robinson chose to wait to order a refuel for one of his stations, hoping that the prices would fall by the following Monday, but he had more business than expected and ran out of gas. "You're just rolling the dice every time," Robinson told the Journal.
7/14/22
Metuchen Gas Station Manager Admits Stealing From Customers A manager at a Metuchen gas station is admitting he stole $78,000 by entering fraudulent charges on credit cards used at the station. Umer Hassan Mir, 40, of South Amboy, was working at a Delta gas station when the fraud took place. According to prosecutors, Mir would scan a fuel credit card for legitimate charges, then later manually entered fraudulent charges. Mir would then put the fraudulent slip into the register and remove the same amount of cash
As President Biden travels to Saudi Arabia this week to ask for increased energy production from the Middle Eastern nation, American energy industry representatives say Biden should be looking stateside instead. "We think Texas is a lot closer than Saudi Arabia,' American Exploration and Production Council CEO Anne Bradbury told Fox News Digital. "And President Biden does not need to be traveling halfway around the world searching for solutions to this energy crisis when the solution is right here at home," "If the administration is serious about increasing supply, they should be meeting with producers here at home instead of looking to governments overseas," American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman Christina Noel said.
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
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