Pricing Regulations Proposed in Trenton

December 11, 2025

Pricing Regulations Get Hearing in Committee

This morning the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee discussed a series of bill that all would force businesses to deal with more red tape, and most of them were related to pricing practices.

The most impactful one was the “Tariff Transparency Act”. This would require every business that sells products or services to consumers to explicitly list what portion of the price they are charging is due to every form of tariff that impacts it. The tariffs are a vastly complex web that has proven to be ever changing, and expecting your businesses to keep up with it all is unreasonable. Businesses would be periodically audited by the State to make sure their calculations were correct and would be fined up to $500 per error. 

Your suppliers would also be required to keep track of both tariffs they pay, and tariffs paid by the people they buy from. Even products made in the USA are still suffering from tariffs. For example, consider a mocha-flavored cold brew coffee sold in a typical c-store. While made in the US, it contains coffee that was tariffed, cocoa that was tariffed, a sweetener that was likely tariffed, and is packaged in an aluminum can that was tariffed. All of those costs would need to be tracked and reported. You can imagine how the cost of that compliance burden would be passed on. You can read our full testimony for more details HERE.

Another bill would require that any business which accepts digital coupons must start offering “rainchecks” for consumers if they run out of supply of the item in sale. Current law covering rainchecks only applies if a business has chosen to offer them, but the way this bill was drafted it forces most retail businesses to start offering them. 

Another red tape creating bill on the agenda would require that all price signs offering something at a special Buy One, Get One price would also need to list the usual and customary price of the item. 

For both those bills, violating the law would be violating the Consumer Fraud Act, which has penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offense. 

A fourth bill on the agenda would require many food retail businesses to put up a special sign next to products that contain a high caffeine content, including coffee. 

Other Bills in Motion This Week

The busy season in Trenton continues this week. On Monday we saw some success in the Senate Budget Committee as we and our allies were finally able to get satisfactory amendments made to a bill which would regulate plastic utensils and condiment packets at all food stores. 

The original version of the bill would have banned all plastic utensils and required stores to give out reusable forks, knives, and spoons. In the new language that only applies to sit-down restaurants, c-stores can continue allowing consumers to take the products they want themselves. We also had to spend nearly a year pushing the sponsor to allow consumers to pick out the condiment packets they want, he wanted state law to say that no condiments could be given out unless the customer explicitly asked an employee for exactly which condiments and what amounts they wanted. Yet another red tape burden for small businesses, but thankfully that mandate has finally been removed. 

We also got an exemption for condiments that were packed into the product during the manufacturing process. The original bill also called for a first offense fine of $1,000 per business, that was reduced to a warning for first offense. The bill still must pass the full Senate and go through the process in the Assembly, it remains to be seen whether it will in the time remaining before the session expires in mid-January. 

We also opposed a bill in the Senate Health Committee that would have banned certain types of food additives. Regulations like that should be handled at the federal level, local NJ small businesses shouldn’t be placed at risk of a fine for selling a snack that is legal in most of the country. 

Another bill we are monitoring that is moving pretty quickly through the process would authorize PSE&G to build another large nuclear power plant in South Jersey. More power supply would be a good thing as inadequate supply has been the driving the force behind the spike in utility prices recently. The concern is that the bill also subsidizes PSEG in the construction of this plant, with the Ratepayer advocate estimating the average household would see a $600 increase per year, and it would take several years before the plant even started to generate power. The bill was introduced right after the election has now passed two committees in as many weeks. 

Lukoil Update

Yesterday we hosted another meeting for Lukoil dealers to get together and discuss their plight. We are continuing to work with them to ensure that our state and federal Right of First Refusal protections are respected and followed through on. If one company is able to get away with breaking an important franchise protection act like this, the rest of the big companies can too. 

Last week the Treasury Department announced an extension of the sanctions exemption for retail Lukoil sites, all the way until April 29, 2026. 

If you are a Lukoil, or know one, who could not make yesterday’s meeting please reach out to me at Eric@njgca.org for some important updates and stay tuned for a details of another important meeting coming up soon.

Convenience Store Lease Opportunity

FOR LEASE:
BUSY CONVENIENCE STORE LOCATION AVAILABLE

Location:
Medford, NJ

Store Features: 

• 3,107 square feet
• Estimated 37,000 visits per month
• Situated next to a corner service station
• Existing leasehold (Wawa) ends Summer 2026

Location Details:
A retail convenience store location will soon become available for lease in Medford, New Jersey. The store is currently a high traffic Wawa location and situated next to an operating gas station/auto repair shop. The Wawa lease ends in Summer 2026. 

Corner service station on adjacent property drives a lot of consumer traffic to the area. The new leasee would rebrand the store with their own identity, but also inherit a prime spot with proven and established patronage. This presents a rare opportunity for a small business owner to step into a “big box” convenience store’s existing footprint and make the location their own. 

Fellow NJGCA members and outside interested parties are welcome to visit the location.

To learn more, please contact H. Abadzi with inquiries and interest.  

Contact: H. Abadzi
E: habadzi@gmail.com, 
P1: 703-731-7302
P2: 703-731-8580

Station for Sale

Location:
777 Hamburg Turnpike
Pompton Lakes, NJ 07442

Station features: 

• Corner location with four 6,000 gallon tanks (double wall fiberglass)
• Tanks were installed in 1998.
• 70,000 gallons of gasoline sales per month.
• Busy 2 Bay Garage, with small C-Store.

Interested in learning more? 

Contact Steve Hamparsumian with inquires! 
Cell: 201-832-5885 
Email: Steveabbcnj@gmail.com

Rack Averages

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