September 24, 2015

Dear NJGCA Member:

Thank you for reading this week's NJGCA Road Warrior!

Here is what you will find in this edition:

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR ERT LICENSE EXPIRES ON SEPT. 30TH?
CREDIT CARD PROCESSING FEES AND CASH DISCOUNTS
MINIMUM WAGE NOT INCREASING IN JANUARY 2016
STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED DUE TO PAPAL VISIT
THREE (3) BREAKFAST MEETINGS COMING TO NORTHERN NJ!

At the Breakfast meeting in Forked River last week, a member asked about his ERT (Emission Repair Technician) License which will be expiring on September 30^th. MVC recently visited his site and told him that if re-cert requirements are incomplete on the September 30th deadline, they intend to turn off his inspection equipment on October 1st. NJGCA reached out to NJDEP and NJMVC to confirm the protocol for ERT licenses that are expiring. We have determined that no PIF equipment will be turned off as there are separate licenses for PIFs and ERFs.

In December of 2014, ERTs with licenses expiring in June of 2015 received letters from NJDEP, informing them that NJDEP granted extensions until September 30th, in order to allow sufficient time to participate in the proper Re-Cert courses: Section 8 Advanced Gasoline Technologies, Section 9 Advanced Light Duty Diesel, and Section 10 Hybrid/Electrical Technologies.

NJDEP also advised that there is only one extension - June 30th until September 30^th, at which time the ERT license would expire until Re-Cert requirements have been met. Most ERTs have successfully met the Re-Cert requirements and their licenses will continue uninterrupted. However, there are ERTs who have enrolled in classes, but will not have completed the class or passed the required tests until after the September 30^th deadline has passed and their license has expired.

If your shop has an Emission Repair Facility (ERF) license, you must have an Emission Repair Technician (ERT) with a valid license. Should a technician’s license expire they will be unable to certify emissions repairs until after they have met the qualifications, passed the Re-Cert tests, and successfully renewed their license. They can apply for re-instatement immediately after meeting the requirements and passing the test.

As gas prices have gone down, you should also be seeing a decrease in credit card processing fees. Processing fees are proportionate to the price of the product, and usually total around 2-3% of the sale. At $2.00/gallon, that means we are looking at fees of 6 cents per gallon. In the past, retailers might have been paying around 8 to 10 cents per gallon, so the cash discount reflected this scenario, but I have been in contact with the Office of Weights and Measures, and they are not dummies! They have specifically told me that they will begin enforcement to ensure that retailers are not providing a discount greater than the savings incurred by the customer's purchase in cash instead of credit. I am simply bringing it to your attention that you need to give careful consideration to your credit card cost per gallon and what you are charging at the pump.

The next topic I'd like to discuss is minimum wage. As you know, an amendment to the NJ Constitution was passed in 2013, which stated that New Jersey's minimum wage would go from $7.25 to $8.25 in 2014, and then be tied to inflation. In 2015, the minimum wage rose $0.13, so it has been $8.38 for the past 10 months. On Monday, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced there will be NO minimum wage increase in January 2016. It will remain at $8.38. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, did not go up this year, so the minimum wage stays flat.

Anticipating an increase this year, I had every intention of reminding you in December that it is YOUR responsibility to notify your payroll company when the wages of your employees rise. Even though they know the minimum wage is going up, they don't automatically increase your employee's wages, it is your responsibility to do so. But, since minimum wage is not going up this year, it's a moot point, and I'm going to have to remember to inform you of this again in December of 2016.

However, I do want to mention that our opponents on this issue continue to support a minimum wage as high as $12-$15 per hour. We have seen this start to happen in cities across the US and it is truly a terrifying proposition to small business owners everywhere. NJGCA will continue to work with other like-minded business groups to keep that from happening.

Third, I want to quickly revisit the State of Emergency declared due to the Pope's visit. I sent out a Wildfire Alert on Monday, and even though this really shouldn't affect you (it is not in response to any anticipated supply problems), the state of emergency was nonetheless declared, and this triggers the gouging laws. No, I do not expect anybody to be monitoring your prices, and I am confident that competition is going to keep any of you from walking out and raising your prices $0.20 tomorrow morning. This may actually have more of an impact on the hotel industry, as they are more likely to see a sudden rush of demand and jack up their prices. I'll let the hotel association fight those battles... Right now my concern is that you don't fall into any traps!

Finally, we are excited to bring our Diner Tour back to the Bergen/Passaic/Essex area! We will be holding three meetings in the Northeastern part of the State:

Wednesday October 14th
The West Milford Diner
2020 Greenwood Lake Tpk
Hewitt, NJ 07421

We will be sending emails and making phone calls to inform members of these meetings and to promote them. Please bear with us. We make every effort to ensure that every single one of our members is aware of the work that we do and the value of their membership. You will likely receive phone calls and emails from us until we have a response from you. By RSVPing now, you will be doing my staff (and your staff) a huge, time-saving favor, by eliminating the need for us to chase you down for an answer!

We look forward to connecting with many of our members over the next month!

That's all for now! Thanks for reading -- See you next week!

Regards,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

ETEP Re-Cert, Sections 8, 9 and 10 being offered in SOUTH Jersey (Wall Twp) -- DAY and EVENING Classes Available!

For Class Informational Flyer, please click here.
For Class Registration Form, please click here.

FUTURE CLASSES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 732-256-9646 or DEBBIE@NJGCA.ORG TO LET HER KNOW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING A SPECIFIC CLASS. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO GAUGE YOUR NEEDS AND KEEP TRACK OF THOSE WISHING TO PARTICIPATE!!

CLASSIFIEDS! -- FOR SALE & HELP WANTED ADS

NJGCA MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER GILL ENERGY LOOKING TO HIRE FOR (3) DIFFERENT POSITIONS!

For more information about these positions, and to submit a resume for consideration, please contact: ravigill@gillenergy.com.

9/22/2015:
Assembly plans hearing on lottery revenue woes
The NJ Assembly budget committee will hold a hearing this fall to examine how the recently privatized NJ Lottery is running a reported $100 million revenue shortfall for the new fiscal year, chairman Gary Schaer said. Schaer accused Christie's administration of letting Northstar, which was the sole bidder for the contract, continue to over-estimate revenues. The assemblyman said the company’s administrative costs -- totaling $29 million last year -- were eating into profits. The Record and The Associated Press reported the shortfall this month. Christie had championed privatization as a way to actually boost the lottery’s revenues and cut the cost of administering it; the state treasury told the Associated Press that the company's creative approach had kept revenues from being even lower.

9/20/2015:
North Jersey's retailers using new card readers
At cash registers in stores around North Jersey, customers are starting to hear new instructions for paying by credit card, as "Please insert card" replaces "Please swipe card." The change is prompted by the growing use of computer chip-protected credit cards, and an Oct. 1 deadline that makes retailers who can't process chip-protected card transactions liable for fraudulent charges. The chip card attaches a unique code to each transaction. There are no known instances of chip-card fraud so far. While the nation's largest retailers — including Target, Home Depot and Wal-Mart — have converted to chip-card readers, for North Jersey's small merchants, the decision to switch is as individual as their stores. At the W.O.B. Lingerie store on Kinderkamack Road in River Edge, the saleswomen are calling the store's new credit-card reader the "smart machine." Five blocks away, Eco Galleria gift store owner Kathryn Longo said she is waiting to see if the liability issue is a problem before investing any money in a change.

9/20/2015:
Environmental activists urge North Jersey residents to be engaged on oil train issue
Drawing a line from freight trains carrying millions of gallons of volatile Bakken crude through Bergen County towns to global climate change, environmental activists at a public forum called for sweeping action at all levels on a range of environmental issues. A panel of eight speakers, most of them affiliated with an environmental group, addressed issues ranging from local to international as they urged the 75 local residents at Temple Emeth to educate others, prod lawmakers, recruit environmentalist candidates for political office, sign petitions and be engaged. The crude oil being transported comes from North Dakota, where an oil boom has led to a surge in the amount of oil transported by train. The oil reaches Albany, N.Y., and travels along the CSX River Line to a Philadelphia refinery, along the way, passing through densely populated areas in Northvale, Norwood, Harrington Park, Closter, Haworth, Dumont, Bergenfield Teaneck, Bogota, Ridgefield Park and Ridgefield. That worries some nearby residents, who point out that the oil runs near schools, athletic fields and houses of worship, in addition to homes.

We have had a number of NJGCA members successfully reduce their rate per kWh signing up through our energy saving program. We know it's difficult to collect 12 months worth of previous electric bills to get an "accurate" analysis when comparing a variable rate to a fixed rate, but we now have another option available.

This new solution is a power purchase option; the other program is still in full force and has saved members thousands of dollars. If you sign up for the power purchase option, you will be grouped with other NJGCA members until the minimum KW demand is acquired. By pooling the member's usage together, you will be able to take advantage, as large energy users do, and receive a lower kWh rate.

Each member will receive their own contract. Each member is responsible to sign and return the agreement the day it is received in order to secure the price for their group.

Please do your due diligence, so when you receive the proposal and the agreement you will be able to make an intelligent decision.

If by chance, you still want us to assess you bills, to give you a price to compare, we will require 12 months of your most recent utility bills.

There are no bills required, but we would still like to have one bill per meter on file to check account #'s, meter #'s service addresses and other pertinent information incase there is a problem.

The term of the agreement is for 12 months. During this term period, you will have price protection against any energy price increases along with a low fixed kWh rate.

If you are interested in becoming part of this power purchase option, please contact Greg Cannon at the NJGCA.

Remember when you sign up your energy through the NJGCA Energy Program, TMP makes a considerable donation to the NJGCA Scholarship Fund through their proceeds. This has no affect on your rate, and costs you nothing out of pocket.

We hope to help hundreds of NJGCA members reduce their utility costs by participating in this and our other cost reduction programs. Our purpose, in the endeavor, is to help NJGCA members lower their energy costs while supporting the NJGCA Scholarship Fund.

Contact GREG CANNON at 732-256-9646 or email Greg at greg@njgca.org. Mention that you are interested in saving money on your energy bills. NJGCA & TMP Energy Solutions will handle all the rest.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC

DEFENDING OUR MEMBERS.
PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS.
ANSWER THE CALL & CONTRIBUTE TODAY!!

Promoting our agenda in Trenton is of utmost importance to NJGCA and our members.

However, in order to truly affect the debate, we must ensure our friends in the Legislature are re-elected. It is for this reason that your Association has established the NJGCA PAC.

For too long, the weight of funding our Political Action Committee, the arm of the Association responsible for political donations, has rested upon a few. This is not only unfair to those few members who have shouldered this burden, but means we are not utilizing our full strength to affect the debate in Trenton.

To truly understand the importance of supporting our allies, consider our successes in Trenton:

We defeated BELOW COST SELLING
We made history in getting FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL signed into law!
We have built large support for RIGHT TO REPAIR and got it passed out of the Assembly
We defended your small business against the false accusations of Attorney General Anne Milgram
We gained wide support to move New Jersey to an all PIF Inspection System and close the CIF lanes
...and MUCH MORE!!

In each instance, we achieved these goals with the help of our friends in the Legislature!

If every member contributes just $100.00 we will be able to provide the help necessary to ensure victory for our allies.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
NJGCA PAC
4900 Route 33 West, Suite 100
Wall Township, NJ 07753
Please make your donation payable to NJGCA PAC

I understand that times are tough for all NJGCA members, but this is just as important as any battle we have fought in the past.

We have made great progress in Trenton. I hope that you will answer the call.

THE MEMBER TOOL BOX

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