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October 25, 2018

Dear NJGCA Member:

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

Here is what you will find in this edition:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

• Resurrection of the Rain Tax Bill; Autonomous Vehicles are Coming to New Jersey; White House Conference on Small Business; Reminder: New Paid Sick Leave Law Begins Monday; A/B Operator Training Updates; NJGCA Young Professionals Turkey Drive

NJGCA CLASSIFIEDS
- Monmouth County: Gas Station and Repair Shop Business Since 2001
- Bergen County: Shell Gas Station with 6-Bay Repair Shop for Sale

NEWS AROUND THE STATE

• Lawmakers Want To Ease Burden Of Fuel-tax Increase For School Districts
• Carbon-Fee Opponents Raise Record $25.8m to Defeat I-1631
• FDA To Consider Limiting E-cigarette Sales To Vape Shops To Curb Youth Use
• Can The Oil Threat Spare Saudi Arabia from America’s Wrath?

• Liquor Licenses In New Jersey Cost $350k And It's Crippling The State's Dining Scene

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE!

??????• Emissions Inspector Training Class, THURSDAY December 6th
??????• Entire Emission Repair Technician Program: October 8, 10, 15, 24, 29, 31, November 5, 7, 19, 26, December 3
??????• Emission Repair Technician Program RECERTIFICATION: November 7, 19, 26, December 3

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE BOARD
• The Amato Agency: Garage Insurance and Workers Compensation!
• ATS Environmental: Confidence in your Tank & Compliance Testing
• Bellomo Fuel: Exceptional Service, Aggressive Petroleum Marketing
• CBIZ Insurance: Our Business is Growing Yours!
• Gill Energy: Getting you There!
• Lending Capital: "Commercial Loans Made Easy" Program
• Salomone Brothers: Tank Testing and Environmental Compliance
• TMP Energy Solutions: Another Way to Save On Your Energy Bills

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
• Participate in the NJGCA PAC today and help us keep our Agenda rolling in Trenton!

Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

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TO SEE OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL -- CLICK HERE
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

RESURRECTION OF THE RAIN TAX BILL
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE COMING TO NEW JERSEY
WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
REMINDER: NEW PAID SICK LEAVE LAW BEGINS MONDAY
A/B OPERATOR TRAINING UPDATES
NJGCA YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TURKEY DRIVE

Let’s kick off this newsletter with something that seems relatively stupid that has popped up in the past but is looming over our heads again now as a real problem. The so called “Rain Tax bill” A-2694/S-1073 intends to allow local governments to establish their own storm water utilities and determine their own fees. The state is looking to calculate the amount of rain water that washes off of your property so you can be taxed on it. This is one of those issues that hides in the background and eventually rises to the surface that we keep our eyes on. This particular issue is especially burdensome to gas stations and repair shops because you all have big parking lots. There is no formula in the legislation, meaning price can vary and municipalities are permitted to come up with their own formula and tax you accordingly. Once Trenton gives that authority, we will have no way of monitoring what towns are considering imposing this tax. You can read NJGCA’s submitted testimony on this bill HERE.

Earlier this week I sent Eric and Michelle to monitor a hearing on autonomous vehicles. The legislature is considering a package of bills aimed to allow and promote autonomous vehicles on the roads of New Jersey. I urge you all to keep looking back at the information we have already sent during the past year and any future posts we publish on autonomous vehicles. I believe you will see a slow creep that will speed up as this technology develops. Autonomous vehicles will be the disruption that I keep referring to that will make you completely rethink your business. We make mention of this in our latest edition of the On the Road newsletter in our new section on business disruptions.

Speaking of the On the Road newsletter, you should have all started to receive the October Voter Guide edition this week. Please read my article on the White House Conference on Small Business. If Congress does pass the authorization to have another White House Conference, I am going to want to involve as many NJGCA members as possible. It is truly an experience of a lifetime.

Just a final reminder that the new Paid Sick Leave law goes into effect October 29th, make sure that you are in full compliance with all aspects of the new law. You can read our detailed breakdown of what is needed in the newest OTR and you can sign up to attend our webinar on paid sick leave scheduled for November 7th at 2 PM. You can register HERE.

An important update for those of you who have not yet taken your A/B Operator training. NJDEP is no longer offering a physical class at Rutgers locations. They will now mail you a training manual and have you take a webinar training program by NJDEP. The ICC test will continue to be required. Additionally, NJDEP is no longer accepting Pennsylvania A/B Operator Training if you have not already completed your training. Those of you who completed this training and have received your certificate in PA before the October 13th deadline are permitted to continue to use this certification. NJDEP will accept reciprocity in seven other states/territories: Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia. For more information, please continue to check our UST webpage for useful resources as we continue to post updates here.

Finally, I want to bring your attention to an initiative that our new Young Professionals group is doing, a revival of the turkey drive that we did a couple of years ago. The Young Professionals will be collecting turkey, turkey breast, and monetary donations November 1 - 9 and delivering donations to Fulfill NJ, a food bank serving Monmouth and Ocean counties. I was thrilled with the level of interest and generosity of our members during our Hurricane Florence and hope you will contribute. You can drop off donations at our offices in Wall, or at the following locations:

Environmental Alliance
515 Plainfield Ave Suite 202, Edison, NJ 08817
*Call and ask to speak with Daniela Pava before dropping off donations

Bellomo Fuels
2300 E Edgar Rd, Linden, NJ 07036

If you are unable to donate a turkey but want to contribute, you can also make a monetary donation by calling our offices. I hope you all will get an early start on your holiday spirit and contribute to this wonderful cause lead by our Young Professionals.

That's all for this 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!
THURSDAY, December 6th, 2048 -- 7 AM to 3 PM

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 Thursday, December 6th from 7:00am to 3:00pm.
Cost is $275 for members.
Click HERE for registration form

Want to become an emission repair technician/facility?
Entire Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP) Training Classes
Sections 1-7
October 8, 10, 15, 24, 29, 31 [TBD],
November 5
Sections 8, 9, 10 (RECERTIFICATION)
November 7, 19, 26
December 3
1 PM to 9 PM

Stop turning away work!!
The New Jersey Inspection Program requires vehicles that fail emissions inspection to go to a Licensed Certified Emission Repair Facility and have a Licensed Emission Repair Technician perform the repairs! When the new Emissions Inspection program begins, a list of Certified Emission Repair Facilities will be given to the vehicle owners who fail the New Jersey Emission Inspection. If you want your business name on the list – make sure you have a Certified Licensed Emission Repair Technician and you are licensed as a Emission Repair Facility! Those signing up for the FULL training course will attend sections 1-10. Recertification classes start November 7.
Full ETEP class fees for members are $2,195 and non-members are &2,395
Recertification fees for members are $729 and non-members are $879.
Click HERE for 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:

Business For Sale: Monmouth County gas station and repair shop in business since 2001 is for sale. Owner is relocating out of state and is interested in selling business and equipment. Owner is open to limited financing. Business has a strong 10 year lease. The building has two repair bays and the gas pumps are leased to a large independent tenant. Repair shop business currently employs a Manager and two full-time Technicians. For inquiries and more info, please call Mark at 908-670-7798.

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 approved 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.

NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

10/24/18
Lawmakers Want To Ease Burden Of Fuel-tax Increase For School Districts
Lawmakers are seeking to provide some relief for school districts from fuel-tax increases that have boosted the rate paid by New Jersey drivers from the ranks of the lowest in the nation to among the highest. A proposed exemption from New Jersey’s gas taxes for school buses that bring students to and from classes and other related activities was passed by a key committee in the state Assembly earlier this week. A similar exemption is already given to emergency-services vehicles and some industries, and the bipartisan sponsors of the bill are arguing school buses deserve the same treatment. They also believe the policy change could reduce property taxes because school buses are typically operated by private companies under contracts with local or regional school boards, and thus funded through the local property-tax levy. But there could be a tradeoff for that property tax relief as motorists have just learned the hard way this month. With the state gas-tax rate now tied to consumption and overall fuel-tax revenue collections, any new exemption could influence where the rate goes in the future and potentially shift the burden of the tax onto other motorists.

10/22/18
Carbon-Fee Opponents Raise Record $25.8m to Defeat I-1631
A gusher of oil money has boosted to record levels the contributions raised to defeat Initiative 1631, a measure on the November ballot that would set a fee on carbon emissions. As of Monday, the No on 1631 campaign had raised $25.8 million, breaking the old record of $24.34 million raised by opponents of a 2013 ballot measure — Initiative 522 — that unsuccessfully sought to require labeling of genetically modified food. I-1631’s fee would be assessed against greenhouse gases emitted by most fossil fuels combusted in Washington, including most gasoline and diesel fuel used in the state. The fee would raise more than $1 billion annually by 2023 for spending on projects to help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions or adapt to climate change.

10/19/18
FDA To Consider Limiting E-cigarette Sales To Vape Shops To Curb Youth Use
Regulators are considering prohibiting some e-cigarette sales in convenience stores and confining them to vape shops, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday. High school e-cigarette use surged 77 percent last year, Gottlieb said in an interview on "Squawk Box," citing preliminary figures from the federal Youth Tobacco Survey. Middle school use skyrocketed about 50 percent last year, he said. Gottlieb has called these levels "epidemic." Many teens are illegally buying e-cigarettes, including the most popular one, Juul, in convenience stores, Gottlieb said. To confront the issue, he said, regulators could limit sales of flavored e-cigarette products to vape shops.

10/18/18
Can The Oil Threat Spare Saudi Arabia from America’s Wrath?
Saudi Arabia has often acted to calm oil markets ahead of troubled times. Notably, the kingdom even increased its oil exports in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to reassure a concerned global economy that there would be no geopolitical implications for oil. The Saudis took similar action around the time the United States invaded Iraq. But in the runup to the U.S. decision to tear up the Iranian nuclear deal and reimpose oil sanctions on Iran, Saudi Arabia initially discussed a deal with Russia to cut output so as to boost oil prices to $80 or higher. That precipitated a tweet storm from President Trump against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its most important member, Saudi Arabia, in particular. One can only assume the White House was appalled by the Saudi ingratitude that it was showing on Iran. By contrast, Saudi Arabia had increased production when President Barack Obama was preparing to add sanctions against Iran back in 2012.

10/18/18
Liquor Licenses In New Jersey Cost $350k And It's Crippling The State's Dining Scene
New Jersey has notoriously restrictive laws governing who can sell alcohol. Those laws, which date back to the post-Prohibition era, limit municipalities to one liquor license per 3,000 residents. In places where demand is high, licenses can sell for $1 million or more — if they are available at all. The result is a dining scene that, in the words of Morris Davis, a Rutgers professor who studies the economics of real estate and housing, is “diseased.” And more problematic still, the laws are seen by local officials as holding back efforts to revitalize downtowns and attract new, often younger residents. New liquor license laws, experts say, could strengthen New Jersey’s economy. Many long-time Trenton observers say change seems inevitable, and even groups representing existing license holders, who have been fiercely resistant to anything that might devalue their licenses, acknowledge the system needs to be tweaked. Momentum is growing around a proposal from Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, to let restaurants purchase much cheaper permits to serve alcohol. Existing license holders who suffer losses would be compensated, possibly through state tax credits. But similar proposals in the past have been thwarted again and again. Will this time be any different?

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 PARTICIPATION: 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.

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 reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.