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May 17, 2013 Here is what you will find in this edition:
JOIN NJGCA ON FACEBOOK -- CLICK HERE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE: GREETINGS & SAL-UTATIONS! MEETING ON GENERATOR MANDATE RAISING THE TOBACCO AGE LIMIT LETTER TO MENENDEZ ON TOBACCO TAX HIKE Following up on last week’s Road Warrior, I want to fill you in on what occurred during the generator mandate meeting I had with state officials last week. During our meeting in the Governor’s Office, we met with Marc Ferzan and his team of advisors. Mr. Ferzan heads up the Governor’s leadership team in the Office of Recovery and Rebuilding. This group has been hard at work since a few weeks after Superstorm Sandy left our shores. Their task is to both rebuild areas around New Jersey affected by the storm and come up with (and implement) a plan in case any future Sandy-like storms ravage the state. Ultimately, they want all public and private actors to be better prepared, which is why we met with them regarding the gas crisis that we experienced and the proposed generator mandate effort. On its face, mandating generators at service stations seems like an obvious and simple solution. If you require stations to have them, then the next time power is lost, they can continue to pump gas even as the utilities work to restore power elsewhere. Simple, right? Looking at it from that perspective, perhaps the public’s misguided impressions aren’t truly their fault? After all, everyone was affected by the storm and much of the state was without power. Misinformed reporters and word-of-mouth anecdotes seemed to assure people that, if stations had electricity, long gas lines, odd-even rationing, and gas-shortfalls would have evaporated. We all know that such as simplistic – and even naive – hypothesis is wrong. Though motorists, public officials, legislators, and state residents may assume that this solution will solve their problem, we all know that common sense says otherwise. Over the last six months Team NJGCA has been working hard to convince over-zealous Legislators that this “silver-bullet” solution wouldn’t have eased the gasoline hysteria one bit. Since this public discussion began, I’ve felt – and continue to feel – very comfortable with our position. As I’ve publically stated many times before, even if a generator mandate were implemented two years before Sandy struck, it wouldn’t have made any difference. In visiting the Governor’s Office, and having spoken to Mr. Ferzan and his team, I continue to feel as though our common sense objection isn’t going unheeded. The process will be ongoing, but I believe we’ll ultimately convince them that a broad-mandate is a solution searching for narrow-problem. I don’t envy Mr. Ferzan’s task in piecing it all together. Any resolution, however, won’t materialize immediately or be presented without countless revisions and hearings. The Governor obviously wants to put something in place to prevent this from happening again. So do I. However, any one-size-fits-all solution should be avoided since every storm is unique and different. Just look at Sandy. The storm was bad, but it could have been much worse – especially when you consider how much damage was sustained at refineries and distribution centers from the storm surge. If you’d like to consider two parallel situations, you can also look back at the damage after Hurricane Irene and the surprise-Halloween snow-storm that both hit New Jersey a year earlier. In those storms, much of the state was without electricity, but many stations weren't affected because refineries and distribution centers weren’t damaged. Put those examples together and it means that, even if the electric grid hadn’t gone offline at all during Sandy, a gas crisis would have ensued because the refineries were all damaged by the storm surge. So it has little to do with electricity! Despite what some may say, we didn’t have a gas shortage at all – we had a logistical gas crisis. There was plenty of gasoline out there, it just wasn’t accessible. NJGCA has overwhelming, compelling evidence that any generator requirements would not have eliminated the gas crisis we experienced after the storm. Here's how we got a hold of it: Before Sandy exited the state, our team was working with our friends at FMANJ, representatives from the governor's office, the states’ utilities, state police, FEMA, the office of homeland security, the National Guard, the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the NJ Office of Emergency Management, and the Defense Logistics Agency. You’ll recall the constant barrage of emails, and even a few text messages, that we were sending to our members keeping them abreast of what was occurring. However, it wasn’t just you who was being barraged by communications. Our team was also fielding emails, phone calls, and exchanging data with the state officials. We began compiling lists of members and non-members who didn’t have electricity and/or gasoline. We were updating that information almost hourly for nearly two weeks, and sending a fresh list to all the officials from those agencies mentioned above. In doing so, the utilities and state officials made it a priority to get power turned on at service stations. Their efforts were a huge success, and by the time the crisis was over, only a handful of stations in severely damaged areas of the state didn’t have electricity restored. Yet, all the power in the world didn’t solve the lack of product at their stations! In many instances, station owners had power restored inside a few days, but were unable to receive a gasoline delivery for 8 days. To better facilitate Mr. Ferzan’s efforts, I promised that I would survey my members to get an idea of their willingness to voluntarily install either back up generators or generator-ready hook-ups in the case of an emergency. I’m asking you to be on the lookout for an email from us with a survey and am encouraging you to accurately answer the survey questions so we can have truthful results to report to the Governor’s Office. Be on the lookout! Currently there is an effort underway to charge state sales tax on all internet sales. Though that may not directly affect your business, I bet that many of you purchase personal or business related items on the internet. If so, be prepared to soon pay NJ sales on items that, up to now, have been tax free. Well, that’s not quite true. The law says that you’re supposed to pay the taxes associated with online purchase through your income taxes. The idea there being that you’d be bound by an honor system and voluntarily pay when you visited your accountant each year. Still, were any of you aware of that law until just now? Yeah, I thought so. New York City’s attempt to raise the age-limit for tobacco products to 21 has now spread to New Jersey. Senator (and former Governor) Dick Codey (D-Roseland) and Assemblyman Ruben Ramos (D-Hoboken) introduced a bill this week to follow the Big Apple’s lead in raising the minimum age from 19 to 21. The notice made news as Senator Codey announced his proposal not from the State House in Trenton, but from City Hall in Manhattan. That’s because New York City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn, introduced a similar measure last month. In sponsoring the Legislation, we suspect Codey and Ramos hope to deter 19-21 year old smokers in New York City from crossing the river to buy cigarettes in New Jersey. We’ll update you if the bill should gain momentum in the Legislature, but you should have it on your radar. Speaking of tobacco and cigarettes, this week I sent a letter to Senator Menendez opposing the 94 cent excise tax increase that President Obama recently proposed in his budget. You can take a look at what I sent the Senator by clicking HERE. Lastly this week, thanks to those cheating-jerks in Orange who tarnished the reputation of all service station retailers, I penned an Op-Ed that appeared in the Times of Trenton defending honest small business owners from the bad behavior of a few rotten apples. You can read it by clicking HERE. Thanks for reading – See you next week! Regards, Sal Risalvato Executive Director
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Business Opportunity:
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Serious Inquiries Please Contact Bill at 908-887-1385
Do you have a business for sale? Are you looking for a new location or opportunity? If you'd like to list your business for sale, publish a location you're selling, or are seeking a business partner for your establishment, please contact NJGCA at 973-376-0066!
CLASSIFIEDS: FOR SALE & HELP WANTED! After running an ad in the Road Warrior over the last month, NJGCA was able to assist a member in selling his equipment! If you'd like to list equipment for sale, or have an open position you'd like to make other industry professionals aware of, please contact NJGCA at 973-376-0066 and let us help you get the word out!
NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW 05/16/2013: New proposal would require paid sick days A new bill introduced this week in Trenton seeks to require private-sector employers to pay employees for a minimum number of sick-days. If it were to pass, it would make New Jersey only the second state, after Connecticut, to pass such a measure. The bill would undoubtedly harm the business community, but especially small business owners who maybe deterred from hiring new employees under such a mandate. Click above to read full details. 05/16/2013: New Jersey unemployment rate hits new four year low In April, the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.7 percent, its lowest level in four years. The new figures represent a 0.3 percentage drop and continue a sharp unemployment downturn that began in January. Though New Jersey’s unemployment rate is still higher than the national average, experts say the state is now adding jobs faster than the national average. Click above to read the full report. 05/15/2013: Report: Black market cigarette sales increase as taxes rise New data suggests that an increase in cigarette taxes lowers government excise tax revenues and fuels black market cigarette sales. The report comes on the heels of a new 94-cent tobacco excise tax proposed by President Obama. The rise in black market cigarette sales also harms small business owners, such as convenience stores, since counterfeit or illegally sourced cigarettes cut customer foot traffic. 05/08/2013: Enormous lithium find could reduce cost of batteries The discovery of lithium deposits in Wyoming has the potential to shake up the battery industry. Experts estimate the find is worth up to $500 billion based on current market values. Lithium is a key component of all electronic devices and plays an important role in electric-car batteries. What’s more, renewable energies – such as a solar and wind – use lithium-ion batteries to store electricity in smart-grid systems.
TRAINING CLASSES!! No classes currently scheduled.d PLEASE NOTE: FUTURE DATES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 973-376-0066 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!!
MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE
TMP Energy Solutions 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 require12 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 973-376-0066 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.
Promoting our agenda in Trenton is of utmost importance to NJGCA and our members.
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: 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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