April 21, 2017

Dear NJGCA Member:

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

Here is what you will find in this edition:

TWO ISSUES THAT REQUIRE YOUR ATTENTION: TAKE ACTION NOW!
REPEAL OF DURBIN AMENDMENT WILL INCREASE YOUR DEBIT CARD FEES
MENU LABELING REQUIREMENT FOR CONVENIENCE STORES

I apologize that there’s not a lot in this message… it’s been a really busy week and I haven’t had time to sit down and write anything. However, there are two issues that require your full attention, and since this message is so short, I ask you to please spend an extra five minutes taking action in the way we requested!

Last night we sent out an action alert regarding debit card fees. Retailers have been saving money on these fees for the last 6 years, and are in danger of losing the Durbin Amendment which created the competition in the debit card industry and ushered in lower debit card fees. For your convenience, you can follow the link HERE to send a pre-written message to your Congressman/woman to explain your strong opposition to the legislation that was just introduced to repeal the Durbin Amendment.

Later today you will be receiving another action alert because there is immediate action required for our friends in the convenience store industry. And yes, all of our friends in the gasoline and repair industry should also use our VoterVoice Action Alert system to contact their representatives in Washington DC. Washington is piling on us right now and we need them to know that YOU are paying attention!

The convenience store issue revolves around an Obamacare regulation that mandates nutritional information is put on menus at retail locations selling made-to-order food. The FDA wrote the rule essentially for one type of restaurant – those with a static or fixed menu – and ignored all others. In addition, the FDA has failed to respond to requests from industry and suggestions from Congress to allow additional flexibility in compliance. The compliance date is May 5, 2017 and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) is making a renewed push to get Congress to take action and fix the rule. The Action Alert to contact your Congressman/woman will be arriving in your inbox shortly. Please take the few moments required to show your support for an alternative piece of legislation which will allow more flexibility in complying with these requirements.

Next week I will discuss the issues I was planning to talk about today. Have a great weekend!

Thanks for reading -- See you next week!

Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

TRAINING CLASSES!!

All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 4900 Route 33 West, Wall Township, NJ 07753

Emissions Inspector Training Class - One Day Only!

Want one of your technicians to become a NJ Emissions Inspector? We can help! Our one-day class will provide all the information for becoming a NJ Emissions Inspector, and the State will administer the written test the very same day at our offices! We are offering the class: Tuesday, April 25th from 7:00am to 3:00pm. Cost $250.
Click HERE for the registration form.

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

FOR SALE:
Shell Gas Station with 6-Bay Repair Shop for Sale in Bergen County!

Business established in 1980. Fully equipped repair shop with 5 lifts including an alignment rack with a 2-year-old Hunter Hawkeye alignment machine. New Hunter tire machine & wheel balancer. AAA aproved and very busy.

Towing business also available which includes 3 Freightliner/JerrDan flatbeds (2015, 2016 & 2017), a 2012 Dodge crew cab wrecker with a Jerrdan Quick Pick & dual cable winch & 2 service trucks (a 2012 GMC 2500 utility truck with a plow & a 2014 Ford transit battery/service vehicle).

Pumping over 1,000,000 gallons per year. 100x300 lot with plenty of parking. Excellent location!!! Call Jim @ 201-851-3084.

FOR SALE:

Commercial Building in Asbury Park, Property Only for Sale, Not the Business! For listing information, please click HERE.

FOR SALE:

Four (4) Gilbarco Encore 300 dispensers. Brand New in 2003. Pumps work great, just no card readers. Call Katie or Al at 732-739-1360.

Also offering: Transac system for pumps and two dual LSI island lights

NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

4/20/2017:
Bill in House Could End Durbin Amendment
US Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of House Financial Services Committee, put forward a discussion draft on April 19 of his Financial CHOICE Act, which includes language to repeal debit swipe-fee reform. The existing debit swipe-fee reform, usually referred to as the Durbin Amendment, limits the fees that Visa and MasterCard can fix on behalf of the largest banks. NACS, along with other members of the Merchants Payments Coalition, is advocating for the repeal of the provision ending the Durbin Amendment. The convenience-store association announced on April 20 that it will oppose the bill as long as the provision ending the Durbin Amendment stays in place. NACS said the Durbin Amendment ensures routing competition by requiring there be two unaffiliated routing network options on a debit card. This prevents Visa and MasterCard from blocking competitors from being on debit cards. The elimination of the Durbin Amendment would likely mean higher swipe fees for merchants, which would in turn raise the prices consumers pay for goods and services.

4/20/2017:
$13 a pack? NYC mayor wants highest cigarette prices in US
The minimum price for a pack of cigarettes would rise to $13 in NYC under a proposal backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio is backing an effort to force people to quit smoking by raising the city's current legal minimum price of a pack from $10.50, further cementing New York City's claim on having among the most expensive cigarettes in the country. The Democrat announced his support Wednesday for a series of legislative proposals that he said could reduce the number of smokers in the city by 160,000 by the year 2020. The proposals are set for hearings later this month. The city council will also consider legislation to gradually reduce by half the number of licenses issued to retailers to sell tobacco products. Philadelphia and San Francisco have similar licensing restrictions. An American Cancer Society study found that 8,992 retail outlets were licensed to sell tobacco in New York as of October, and about a third of those were within 500 feet of a school. Other proposals would set minimum prices and create taxes on smokeless tobacco and small cigars, and require sellers of electronic cigarettes to obtain licenses. Opponents of the city's high cigarette prices have argued that it has pushed many smokers into buying untaxed, unregulated cigarettes on the black market.

04/17/2017:
Gas Prices on the Rise
If you’ve paid attention to the price at the pump lately, you might have noticed a five-cent per gallon spike just over the last week. It’s the third week in a row for rising gas prices. “Really what you’re looking at is by the 4th of July — barring any weather or international things — we generally have settled on a price,” said Cathleen Lewis, director of government and public affairs for AAA Northeast. The experts we spoke with said there are three main reasons for the increase. Demand goes up in the summer season, when people have more free time to drive around so the market matches the need. Then, gas stations switch from selling “winter blend” gasoline to “summer blend” — which is more expensive because of the components. And third, it takes time and money for the oil refineries to empty their reserves of the winter blend and replace it with the summer stock. That all gets wrapped into the price of purchase, too. To hear additional comments from Eric DeGesero of the Fuel Merchants Association of NJ, click the link above to watch the video interview.

04/17/2017:
Lottery sales lagging once again
Lottery revenues are down and on track to make it the third year out of four that the private company running the games has missed its targets. The sales slump comes as Gov. Chris Christie -- who pushed to privatize the state-run games of chance at a time of deep fiscal challenges -- is turning again to the lottery to help solve a sticky fiscal problem. Christie now wants to redirect revenue from the lottery, which pays for social service programs, to the public employee pension fund. In NJ, the lottery provides a significant portion of state revenues, ranking behind only the income tax, sales tax and corporate taxes. While details of Christie's pension proposal are still being drafted, the lottery's pattern of falling short under an outside company highlights the risks legislators openly worried about when Christie insisted on the privatization. The group, NorthStar New Jersey, had promised during the bidding process — when Christie's revenue projections had fallen more than $400 million short — that giving it control of the lottery's essential functions would return "at least" an extra $1.42 billion to the state over 15 years. As part of the contract, awarded in 2013, NorthStar paid the state $120 million to support its budget. But NorthStar didn't hit its aggressive income projections, and in the first two years of the contract it burned through a $20 million allowance to cover revenue shortfalls. Then, at the end of 2015, it renegotiated its contract with the state and got its revenue projections lowered by $1 billion over the remaining years of the contract. Now NorthStar is on track to fall short of even those lower targets.

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE BOARD:

TMP Energy Solutions

Another Way to Save on Your Energy Bills

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.

*NEW* Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

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 for reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.