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April 5, 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:

• Statewide Budget Hearings; Upcoming Healthcare Legislation; Roll Back of CAFE Mileage Standards; What's Going On In The Gas Market; REMINDER: NJGCA Hosts NJDEP April 17th

NJGCA CLASSIFIEDS
- Monmouth County: Gas Station and Repair Shop Business Since 2001
- Asbury Park: Commercial Building for Sale. Possible Sale of Business
- Bergen County: Shell Gas Station with 6-Bay Repair Shop for Sale

NEWS AROUND THE STATE

• NJ To Join Clean Car Initiative, As EPA Eases Fuel-economy Standards

• NJ Business Leaders Speak Against Proposed Tax Increases During Senate Budget Hearing

• How The Arrival Of Electric Cars Could Hurt The Beverage Industry
• Sunoco’s Retail Exit ‘Effectively Complete’
• EPA To Relax Fuel Efficiency Standards For Autos
• Someone In N.J. Won $533M, And (For Now) Their Secret Is Safe With This Guy

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE!

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

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

STATEWIDE BUDGET HEARINGS
UPCOMING HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION
ROLL BACK OF CAFE MILEAGE STANDARDS
WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE GAS MARKET
REMINDER: NJGCA HOSTS NJDEP APRIL 17TH

The Senate and Assembly Budget Committees are currently having budget hearings around the state. NJGCA testified at Tuesday's hearing at Rowan University in front of the Senate Budget Committee; we wanted to express our concerns over increases in taxes for tobacco products that could raise the tax on a single cigar to $2.70. The same increase will also severely impact vaping products too. Our concern is that such an aggressive tax increase will not only cause your customers to make these purchases on the internet, out of state, or on a black market; but will also significantly decrease traffic in your stores and risk losing sales of high profit items such as coffee and soft drinks. We also wanted to explain to the budget committee that for the last eight years, no one has been paying attention to the fact that the state is spending $40M every year unnecessarily to perform emissions inspections. We continue to ask the state to close the Parsons Run Central Inspection facilities and implement an all PIF inspection system. I also want to give a special thanks to member Levent Sertbas who testified with me to let the committee know how the current budget proposals will adversely affect his business and all of your businesses. Levent traveled all the way from Paramus to the Rowan University campus in Glassboro. All members should appreciate his efforts.

Sal Risalvato and Levent Sertbas Testifying at Rowan University’s Senate Budget Committee Hearing

I wanted to also discuss some legislation we are monitoring that would affect healthcare in this state. As part of the federal tax reform bill that became law a few months ago, the federal individual healthcare mandate was repealed. This was a law that required every adult in the country to either be covered by a health insurance policy or pay a tax. While that requirement will disappear on January 1, 2019, S-1877 will recreate a state-level mandate. If this bill does become law, it is likely that none of you will be affected, but some of your employees might. In theory, forcing more of these uninsured to buy health insurance would be good for the overall health of the market, since the type of people who can afford health insurance but choose not to buy it are overwhelmingly healthy individuals who would pay more in insurance premiums than the insurance company would spend on them. More customers like this can then subsidize older and sicker policy holders. My fear is that, given the attitude toward New Jersey businesses that so many in the Legislature seem to have, this mandate will be the start of a slippery slope that snowballs to a mandate for all employers to offer all of their employees’ health insurance.

More troublesome is an accompanying bill which seeks to tax the group health insurance market to subsidize the individual health insurance market. The group market refers to all plans purchased by employers, whereas the individual market is when consumers purchase insurance for themselves and their families directly from the insurance companies. Exactly how much this tax would cost is completely unclear at this time, and it would apparently hit every form of group insurance, including public sector union plans. Unfortunately, even the sponsors of the legislation don’t seem to know what they want to do, so even though the bill is scheduled to be passed by multiple committees on Thursday, they still don’t know what will actually be in the bill, despite the fact it could increase healthcare costs across the state.

The third healthcare related bill being voted on Thursday is out-of-network reform. This has been the most hotly debated healthcare issue in Trenton for several years now, but it looks like we may finally be on the cusp of real reform that will benefit patients and lower healthcare costs. Some doctor’s groups are opposing the bill for fear it will unfairly restrict their ability to charge patients for out-of-network costs, even with the patient's consent, and therefore tilt the market away from them and toward the health insurance companies. Still, unfair out-of-network charges have plagued patients for years, this appears to be legislation that could genuinely improve the status of NJ healthcare for plan holders.

Also on Thursday, the Senate Budget Committee will be voting on the paid sick leave bill. This is the final hearing on the bill and though NJGCA will be there to oppose it, it is expected to sail through. That would position it for a final vote next Thursday, after which it will head to the Governor, who strongly supports the measure.

This week, the Trump administration moved to roll back on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) mileage standards that were put in place by the Obama administration. This has environmentalists reeling. Governor Murphy has reacted by signing a memorandum of understanding created in 2013 with eight other states that says New Jersey will stand by stricter CAFE standards. This means that vehicles sold in New Jersey must meet more stringent mileage standards. This affects you in a number of ways; obviously, the higher the mileage standards are, the less gasoline you are going to sell. The higher that mileage standards are, the more stringent emissions standards will be, and you and your technicians must be capable of keeping your customers cars running properly while emitting fewer pollutants. This is all still to be played out as the car manufacturers, who are happy about the Trump administration's announcement, will have to figure out how to build their cars to comply with any states that demand higher standards. The Trump administration has signaled they’re going after California’s much higher standards, which will also effect in New Jersey, as it is one of the states that has adopted California’s standards. Click here to read the M.O.U Governor Murphy signed.

I often talk about the marketplace and try to explain what affects certain actions and decisions have that drive prices up or down. I read through this article written by NACS that is a great and simple explanation of the fundamentals of the gasoline production process and how prices are affected. I encourage you to read it.

On a final note, we continue to send reminders to attend our April 17th seminar with NJDEP and I’m still surprised how many of you have called to ask what it is about and if you need to attend. Here's the bottom line: if you own or are responsible for maintaining the UST’s at your facility, then you will be subject to new regulations and testing requirements that may cost you a lot of money. We are having this seminar to help you better understand what you will need to do in order to avoid extremely costly penalties. Although we have a significant number of members registered already, I believe there are many more of you that are not taking this seriously. Please register here if you have not done so already.

Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

TRAINING CLASSES!!

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:

Commercial Building in Asbury Park, Possible Sale of Business, Too! For listing information, please click HERE.

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.

NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

4/4/18
NJ To Join Clean Car Initiative, As EPA Eases Fuel-Economy Standards
Gov. Phil Murphy yesterday announced New Jersey would join eight other states in a cooperative effort to bolster the sale of zero-emission vehicles, a multistate program targeted to curbing greenhouse-gas emissions from the transportation sector. His action to join the clean-car initiative follows a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks, as well as an indication that the Trump administration will challenge California’s ability to set tougher air pollution standards for vehicles. The latter issue is significant to New Jersey because it is one of 12 states that have agreed to require that California’s cleaner cars be sold here. Clean-energy advocates view the program as crucial to the state’s goal of reducing air pollution, including emissions contributing to climate change.

4/3/18
NJ Business Leaders Speak Against Proposed Tax Increases During Senate Budget Hearing
New Jersey business advocates expressed concerns about Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed budget Tuesday during the Senate Budget Committees first public hearing on the plan, arguing that its proposed tax increases could jeopardize the state’s economic growth. Held at Rowan University, the hearing lasted over five hours and featured testimony from various stakeholders, residents and interest groups about various aspects of the governor’s $37.4 billion spending plan. Leaders from the Southern New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association applauded some parts of Murphy’s plan, including its funding for workforce development programs and investment in infrastructure improvements. But they were unified in their opposition to several of Murphy’s proposed tax hikes, among them a so-called “millionaires’ tax” that would raise the state’s highest income tax rate from 8.97 to 10.75 percent on earnings over $1 million and a proposed return to a 7 percent sales tax from the current 6.625 percent.

4/3/18
How The Arrival Of Electric Cars Could Hurt The Beverage Industry
If drivers of electric cars aren’t stopping at gas stations to fill their tanks, the opportunities for impulse purchases inside at the convenience store could dry up. That’s a real possibility, according to Morgan Stanley analysts who wrote that convenience stores could see a hit to beverage sales as more electric cars hit the road. But experts on the convenience store industry say any substantial threat from electric cars is still decades away. While energy-efficient vehicles may catch on en masse with time, more immediate competition for convenience stores comes from the scores of retailers and online companies vying to sell … convenience.

4/2/18
Sunoco’s Retail Exit ‘Effectively Complete’
Master limited partnership (MLP) Sunoco LP has completed the conversion of its 207 retail sites in several West Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico markets to a single commission agent, the company has announced. With this conversion complete, Sunoco's transition out of the majority of its convenience-store operations in the continental United States is “effectively complete,” it said. The move follows the sale of most of its company-operated retail outlets to Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc., which closed on the acquisition of about 1,030 Sunoco c-stores in 17 states, mainly in Texas, New York and Florida, in late January. The $3.3 billion acquisition is the largest in 7-Eleven’s history, and it brings the retailer’s total store count to about 9,700 in the United States and Canada.

4/2/18
EPA To Relax Fuel Efficiency Standards For Autos
The Trump administration on Monday rejected an Obama-era plan to make automobiles more fuel efficient, opening up a long process to weaken current standards and putting California and the federal government on a collision course over vehicle emissions. Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement that the standards on model year 2022 to 2025 vehicles were not appropriate and should be revised. The Obama administration set the average fleet-wide fuel efficiency standards "too high" and "made assumptions about the standards that didn't comport with reality," Pruitt said. He did not offer specifics on revising them.

4/2/18
Someone In N.J. Won $533M, And (For Now) Their Secret Is Safe With This Guy
New Jersey's Mega Millions winner has yet to claim their $533 million prize, but the owner of the Morris County store that sold the ticket says he knows who it is, and that he's keeping it a secret. Lukoil South in Riverdale received a $30,000 retail selling bonus on Monday. Lukoil South sold the winning tickets for the fourth largest jackpot in Mega Millions history to one of its regulars, Krass said, which he confirmed by reviewing surveillance footage.

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.

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.