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May 17, 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:

• Edison Diner Tour; NJGCA Young Professionals; 2018 Election Update; Self Serve in NJ; Tobacco Tax Update; Response Needed: Non-Compete Agreements

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
• Sarlo: Sales Tax Hike 'Off Table'
• Lawmakers Suggest Lots Of Exceptions To $15 Minimum Wage
• Gas Prices Up As White House Vows Withdrawal from Iran Nuclear Deal
• Ready To Ditch Your Straw? They Keep Ending Up On N.J. Beaches

• Electric Vehicles Gaining Interest Among U.S. Drivers
• Paid Family-Leave Bill Would Mean More Time, More Money For Workers
• State Still Struggling With Stormwater Runoff, Can New Bill Help?

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE!
??????• Emissions Inspector Training Class, TUESDAY, May 8th

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

JOIN NJGCA ON FACEBOOK -- CLICK HERE
TO SEE OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL -- CLICK HERE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

EDISON DINER TOUR
NJGCA YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
2018 ELECTION UPDATE
SELF SERVE IN NJ
TOBACCO TAX UPDATE
RESPONSE NEEDED: NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS

Yesterday we held our first Diner Tour meeting of 2018 in Edison at the Skylark Diner. There was great turnout and lively discussion among all the mix of members that were there, which included gasoline, auto repair and convenience store operators. Below are some pictures from the event. As a reminder, we have two upcoming Diner Tour meetings scheduled for June 13th at the Suburban Diner in Paramus and July 18th at the Shore Diner in Egg Harbor Township. Any member from any part of the state can attend any diner tour breakfast meeting. Obviously, the purpose of moving them around the state helps to make this more convenient for our members living in different areas across the state so everyone is able to attend in each location. Make sure to let Michelle know if you will be able to attend by emailing her michelle@njgca.org or calling the office.

Congratulations to NJGCA member Brenda Stensland, winner of our $50 raffle!

Additionally, if you have any young people working in your business or younger family members who you anticipate will be working with or for you in the future, please consider bringing them along with you to our Diner Tour, or any other future events we will be hosting! We need our members to spread the word on our young professional initiative to the younger generation in your business if you have sons or daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc. that help you manage your business and potentially may be the next generation to operate the business. Please contact Michelle Horowitz or Eric Blomgren michelle@njgca.org or eric@njgca.org who are the next generation here on the NJGCA staff if you know of anyone who may be interested. I was really pleased that at yesterday's Diner Tour meeting, members had their sons, daughters, and nephews in attendance. I know that this was coincidental to the effort we are putting together here, however, it proves the need and importance to gather the young people who are the future of your business and this industry. They will be getting an invitation shortly from Eric and Michelle who are working on the details now.

This November is a very serious election, as the entire House of Representatives in DC is up for reelection. There are several districts in New Jersey that are very important to NJGCA, as candidates who share our values are in very tight elections. In District 11, a good friend to NJGCA, Assemblyman Jay Webber is running for the seat being vacated by Congressman Frelinghuysen. Because of the importance of this campaign, a handful of NJGCA members made contributions and attended a dinner event Monday night. I would like to thank NJGCA members Norman Lippmann, Joe Ocello, Bob Cattani, Martin Gallagher, and former NJGCA staffer Nick De Palma for their generous contributions. The other district that we will be monitoring closely in this election is District 7, where Congressman Leonard Lance is running for reelection. I am hoping that we will be able to show similar support to Congressman Lance as well.

L to R: Norman Lippmann, Bob Cattani, Assemblyman Jay Webber, Joe Ocello, Martin Gallagher, Sal Risalvato

The possibility of self serve gas in New Jersey is an issue that I tend to speak about in spurts as it comes up and because many of you have been inquiring. Let me give you an update: yes, NJGCA intends to fight to change the laws in NJ that would permit your customers to pump their own gas. When I first spoke about this four years ago, I said then that this was going to take a long time to accomplish, and that is still the case. We have many legislators who like the idea, but are not willing to champion it. There are several roadblocks in the legislature that we have been working to overcome to at least get this issue moving. On a positive note: it seems as if every host on the NJ radio station 101.5 during every time slot of the week strongly supports the idea of allowing customers to pump their own gas, and they talk about it more and more on their programs with many listeners calling in. It seems that on every program, they mention my name and our organization NJGCA and rattle off the positive facts that we have put forward for the public to understand. One night last week I got in my car and when I turned on the radio, the first thing I heard was my name mentioned and knew the discussion mentioned was on self serve. Since I have access to the call in hotline in order to bypass all other callers, I called in to once again give the facts and set the record straight. You can read the article they wrote with a mention to NJGCA here, or listen to me call into the radio show where they talked about this issue.

An update on the tobacco tax: we've had some very good discussions with key legislators on the budget committees in both the Senate and Assembly and believe we will be able to work out a compromise that will greatly reduce the amount of the tax increase that they are talking about. Presently, Governor Murphy’s proposal would make the tax on a single cigar $2.70. For those of you who sell vaping products, they want to create a new 75% tax on all vaping products as well. We will be sure to keep you updated on this.

As you may have gathered from previous weekly communications emails, there has recently been an enormous amount of activity in Trenton. NJGCA has been active in Trenton this month submitting testimony on bills of importance to you. Read a synopsis of each bill here:

Hydrogen Sales Tax Exemption
Public/Private Partnerships for Alternative Energy Vehicles
Tax Deductions for Employee Education
New Jersey Regulatory Flexibility Act Expansion
Non-Compete Agreements
Unemployment Insurance Misconduct Bill
Paid Family Leave Expansion
Rain Tax Bill

One of the things that's important that I need your feedback on immediately is this question answered: have you ever or do you ever anticipate requiring employees, particularly, repair shop technicians, to sign non-compete agreements when you hire them? The legislature is working on passing a bill that will prohibit you from requiring employees to sign these agreements. My concern is the issue of technicians leaving your employ to work down the street at a competitor and contacting your customers. I know this happens presently, and I expect as qualified technicians will be harder to come by in the future, this issue may become more of a problem. Look for a survey on this question and please respond when you get it, your response is important to us.

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, JUNE 7th, 2018 -- 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, June 7th from 7:00am to 3:00pm. Cost $275.
Click HERE for the registration form, and please send Debbie Hill a copy of your drivers license with 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:

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

5/15/18
Sarlo: Sales Tax Hike 'Off Table'
Senate Budget Committee Chair Paul Sarlo, D-36th District, in remarks to reporters following a Tuesday committee hearing said Gov. Phil Murphy’s push for a sales tax increase is now “off the table.” The Democratic governor has proposed $1.5 billion in tax hikes, including bumping the sales tax back up to 7 percent from the current 6.625 percent. The state sales tax was previously lowered in exchange for passage of a 23-cent gas tax for the Transportation Trust Fund. The remarks followed closely two modestly downbeat pieces of news out of Trenton: State income tax receipts were off $23.1 million, or 1 percent, at $2.3 billion in fiscal 2017, and consensus estimates suggest newly legalized sports-betting industry may produce upward of $20 million or so in new state revenue – a bit less than some had imagined. “We’re not going to have the windfall that we’re all hoping for based upon the ruling,” Sarlo acknowledged. “But I still think you will see something in the $20 and $30 million range.”

5/15/18
Lawmakers Suggest Lots Of Exceptions To $15 Minimum Wage

New Jersey’s labor commissioner advocated for a $15 an hour minimum wage at a budget hearing Tuesday, but lawmakers ticked through a series of concerns about the idea – and a long list of exceptions they’d like to see if a bill is passed. Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said an increase in the minimum wage would be a plus for the economy. He said two groups he’s heard worries from recently are landscapers and summer camps but discounted them. . . Asaro-Angelo said three-fourths of minimum wage workers aren’t teens. But state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, said the exceptions will have to go farther than that. “Seasonal workers. High school workers. Folks who work for our Parks and Recreations in our towns, and we hire a bunch of counselors. Lifeguards,” Sarlo said.

5/14/18
Gas Prices Up As White House Vows Withdrawal from Iran Nuclear Deal
On May 14, the national average price of gas hit $2.87—up six cents over the previous week—due in part to the White House’s announcement that it would re-impose sanctions on Iran, AAA reported. Some 36 states on Monday, May 14, were showing pump prices a nickel or more expensive compared to last Monday and 19% of stations are showing gas for $3.01 or above. “The Administration’s move combined with the switchover to summer blend, growing global demand and shrinking supply continues to fuel pump prices as we approach the summer driving season,” said Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokesperson. “AAA predicts that the national average may reach $3/gallon this summer, especially if crude oil prices continue to increase.”

5/13/18
Ready To Ditch Your Straw? They Keep Ending Up On N.J. Beaches
In Clean Ocean Action's annual tally of Spring and Fall beach sweeps in 2017, the number of "plastic straws/stirrers" was up 58.75 percent from the 2015 count. The increase is alarming, say environmentalists, animal lovers and others, because it indicates an increase in the number of plastic straws being released into waterways and ending up in the ocean, which can then harm or kill marine life. One likely explanation for the increase in the number of straws and stirrers littering beaches, environmentalists say, is the proliferation of coffee shops and convenience stores that dispense them...Though straws are far from the only plastic polluting oceans, they have become a focus of environmentalists and even celebrities, who say they are a convenience item for which demand can be reduced by consumer awareness of the environmental damage they cause.

5/11/18
Electric Vehicles Gaining Interest Among U.S. Drivers
More electric vehicles could be on the road soon as U.S. drivers warm to the new technology. According to a new AAA survey, 20 percent of Americans, or 50 million people, said they are likely to go electric for their next vehicle purchase. That number is up from 15 percent in 2017. With lower-than-average ownership costs, increased driving ranges and the latest advanced safety features, electric vehicles could have a strong future, the group said.

5/11/18
Paid Family-Leave Bill Would Mean More Time, More Money For Workers
Ten months after it was vetoed by the prior governor, legislation to greatly expand New Jersey’s paid family-leave benefits took its first step on Thursday toward the desk of the new governor, who is expected to be more amenable to the proposal. Expanded family leave is just the latest initiative that legislative Democrats failed to get past former Gov. Chris Christie during the past eight years that they are now pushing through, hoping to have better luck with a friendlier governor. While campaigning last year, Gov. Phil Murphy expressed his support for expanded family leave and criticized Christie’s conditional veto, which essentially gutted the bill. Co-sponsored by Sen. President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester), S-2528 is similar to the bill that passed both houses of the Legislature last year. It would give eligible workers more paid leave to care for a newborn or another family member and more money for each day of leave they take. The Senate Labor Committee voted 3-1 to advance the bill.

5/11/18
State Still Struggling With Stormwater Runoff, Can New Bill Help?
The state is reviving a decade-old idea to help New Jersey address a $15 billion problem to better manage stormwater runoff, an issue widely recognized as fouling waterways and exacerbating flooding. Borrowing a concept already in place in more than 40 states, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee approved a bill (S-1073) to allow towns and counties to set up stormwater utilities as a mechanism for controlling pollution from runoff. The bill, or some version of it, has been kicked around by lawmakers for years, but has had a tough time winning approval — and when it did, former Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure.

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.