PREPARING FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF 23¢ GAS TAX INCREASE ON NOV. 1
MOTOR VEHICLE INSPECTIONS PROGRAM UPDATE
A NOTE ABOUT NJDEP/UST REGISTRATION WALK-INS
LOOK FOR ON THE ROAD NEWSLETTER AND POSTCARD ADVERTISING GASOLINE AND C-STORE SUMMIT ON NOVEMBER 30, 2016.

Although there will be one more Road Warrior before it’s time to implement the 23¢ gas tax increase on November 1, I wanted to encourage you to start considering what type of preparations will be necessary in terms of signage, computer programming, etc. At 12:01am on November 1, you will owe an additional 23¢ to the state of New Jersey for every gallon that goes through your pumps.  So, if you don’t raise your price you will in effect be doing two things:

1. Losing a lot of money and
2. Selling below cost and breaking the law
 
Though we’ve tried to stay on top of every detail, we are still following up and getting more information.  Several legislators have introduced legislation to repeal the tax increase that was just signed, however, it is just for show, so that they can go back to their constituents and proclaim how strongly they opposed raising the gas tax.  There is a better chance you’ll see pigs fly before you see a repeal of the gas tax increase.

Additionally, I will be meeting in the Treasurer’s office on Monday afternoon to make sure that I am not misinterpreting anything or leaving any details out. However, I am extremely confident in the instructions that I’m about to give you.  Remember, all of this is effective 12:01am on November 1.

1. The Petroleum Gross Receipts Tax on gasoline increases 23¢ per gallon.
2. Any delivery arriving at your location after 12:01am on November 1 will have the 23 additional cents included on the invoice.
3. Every gallon that you already have in inventory in your USTs at 12:01am on November 1 will be required to be reported on a special tax return that will be sent to you. You must remit 23¢ for each gallon you have underground at 12:01am on November 1.
4. *IMPORTANT – NEW INFORMATION* There will be an allowance depending on the size of your USTs to account for “dead storage.”You’ll subtract that amount from the overall inventory that you have in storage at 12:01am on November 1, and you will not need to pay the 23¢ additional tax on that amount. The allowances are as follows:
   • In USTs with a capacity less than 10,000 gallons, the dead storage = 200 gallons.
   • Tanks with a capacity of 10,000 gallons or more = 400 gallons dead storage
5. Finally, DON’T INCREASE YOUR DIESEL PRICES YET (unless of course you would like to make more profit). There will be two increases to the Petroleum Gross Receipts tax on diesel. One will be January 1, 2017 and the other will be July 1, 2017.We will inform you with ample time to make said adjustments.

Let’s move on to another messy matter in Trenton -- New Jersey Motor Vehicle Emissions Inspections. I have spoken very little about this subject in the past 5 months because there has been nothing to speak about, and information was being kept from me during the decision-making process.  In fact, I asked Eric to file an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to compel the Motor Vehicle Commission and the Department of Treasury to provide us with information surrounding the bids that were submitted on February 27, 2016 which should have resulted in a new contractor being chosen by May.  Apparently, a new contractor was chosen, but the 3 losing bidders filed a lawsuit to protest the selection that was made. One of the losing bidders is Parsons, who has been running the program since 2000. 

Parsons filed a lawsuit to gain access to the un-redacted documents that the winning bidder submitted, saying that they needed this information in order to file their formal protest of the decision.  Last week, the judge ruled against Parsons’ request for information, and now all the contractors have been notified that protests must be filed by Monday, October 24.  Based on the information that I have received from our OPRA request, Parsons was the 3^rd lowest bidder.

I expect that the State won’t take much time to evaluate the protests and make a final decision. Though I’ve failed to predict the State’s next move with regards to emissions inspections for the last five years, I am going to try one last time to predict that we will know who the new contractor will be, and what the terms of the contract are, within the next month.  At that time, we’ll know the cost of new equipment and what the total costs will be in order to be a PIF.  Of course, once the official announcement is made, the process will begin, which will include meetings with the new contractor.  I fully expect that NJGCA will be engaged in helping to organize or participate in those meetings.  There’s still a lot to come, we’ll keep you informed every step of the way as we learn.
 
Brief note on NJDEP’s UST Registration Department. Walk-ins are no longer accepted. If you want to bring information, payments, completed questionnaires, copies of insurance policies, etc. to NJDEP regarding your UST registrations, YOU MUST CALL AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FIRST. 

Please call 609-292-2943 and ask for Nancy or Sara to make an appointment.
 
Finally, you should be receiving our quarterly On The Road newsletter in the mail in the very near future. You should notice that the cover is announcing the Gasoline and C-Store Summit on November 30^th.  A few days after you receive the OTR you should receive our first postcard with information about the event.  We have reached out to Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno to be our keynote speaker, and we plan to have an impressive lineup of very informative and helpful speakers.  Please mark your calendar, you will be receiving more information in the coming weeks. When you are ready to register online, you can come back to this message and click HERE. 

Thanks for reading -- See you all next week!

Sal Risalvato
Executive Director 

10/20/2016:
Age to buy tobacco raised to 21 in Haledon
Anyone under the age of 21 years old will be prohibited from buying tobacco and nicotine products in Haledon as of Oct. 26, 2016.  Haledon is now the 21st town in New Jersey that has increased the tobacco-use age to 21 via local ordinances, according to Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy Executive Director Karen Blumenfeld, Esq. Global Advisors tracks tobacco control ordinances in NJ. Haledon Board of Health approved the ordinance on Sept. 21 prohibiting the sale of tobacco and nicotine products in the borough to anyone under the age of 21 years old. The state law is 19 years old to purchase tobacco products, however, towns have the ability to raise the age.  "We applaud Haledon for enacting a local ordinance that raises the age to 21 for tobacco and e-cigarettes," Blumenfeld said. "Haledon becomes the 21st town in New Jersey to have a tobacco age 21 ordinance, which is so important since 90% of all tobacco-users start before age 21." The ordinance states that in the borough, tobacco or nicotine products can only be sold face-to-face and self-service displays or devices are prohibited. No person can sell, distribute, or give tobacco or nicotine products to any person under the age of 21 years old.
 
10/18/2016:
New Jersey Is Known for Cheap Gas. The Glory Days Are About to End.
Pity New Jersey. Buffeted by the misdeeds of corrupt officials, maligned by reality TV and blasted by hurricanes, many natives say they grow tired of routinely having to defend their state. Despite it all, one thing always perked up New Jersey residents: the cheap gasoline. With prices far lower than in neighboring states like New York and Pennsylvania -- the second lowest prices in the country, in fact (only Alaska charges less) -- New Jerseyans have long boasted about their bargain-basement fueling costs. The low prices, a consequence of the state’s low tax, also coaxed many thrifty New Yorkers and others over the state line. But those gas glory days are coming to an end. Gov. Chris Christie has signed into law a new tax that, starting on Nov. 1, will raise gas prices by 23 cents a gallon, effectively putting New Jersey on a par with the rest of the country. The added revenue will go toward repairing the state’s ailing infrastructure and refilling the TTF, whose depletion had led the governor to order the emergency shutdown of hundreds of projects to improve roads, bridges and rails.  Click above to read further and see Executive Director Sal Risalvato’s comments in the article.
 
10/18/2016:
Catalytic converters remain a hot item for thieves
A rash of catalytic converter thefts from vehicles parked in Rider University lots recently is part of regional trend, township police say. Lawrence police have a detective assigned to the thefts, which number nine on campus in recent weeks.  Three of them were this past weekend.  Lawrence police spokesman Lt. Joseph Amodio and a national insurance group say thieves years ago figured out that the devices contain one of three precious metals - rhodium, platinum or palladium - that can fetch cash on the black market. Scrap dealers pay anywhere from $20 to $240 for converters - and possibly as high as $640 for a converter from a diesel vehicle, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) said recently. Amodio said Rider and Lawrence are not the only victims. He said Lawrence police have heard about similar patterns of thefts in Princeton, Hamilton and South Brunswick recently. Converters have been a target of solo thieves and larger theft rings in the past decade. From 2008 to 2015, a total of 25,394 catalytic converters were stolen nationwide and they increased 23 percent in that time period, the NICB says. The numbers are from a review of insurance claims data and reflect only known, insured thefts, so the actual number of all catalytic converter thefts is likely much higher, the NICB says.