I wish I was still on vacation as I returned to a crazy firestorm, one that I have never experienced in 40 plus years in this business. There is a lot going on this week so please take some time to read since much of this is important, especially if you operate a convenience store.
 
A few weeks ago, I talked about the menthol cigarette ban legislation that was passed in the Senate Health Committee and created by Assemblyman Herb Conaway. Herb Conaway is a medical doctor who takes every opportunity in the legislature stop the use of tobacco products. The bill did pass his committee which is no surprise, however, it has now been referred to the Senate Appropriations committee. The chairman of that committee, Assemblyman John Burzichelli, completely understands that while smoking menthols is harmful, if we ban them in New Jersey the state will lose approximately $320 million per year in lost cigarette and sales taxes. Of course, our concern here at NJGCA are the revenues that you lose in your stores because of lost cigarette sales and the sales of products that are purchased along with tobacco products (coffee, sandwiches, etc.). I have a certain degree of confidence that no matter how much the legislature and general public dislike tobacco products, our government does not have the stomach to lose $320 million in revenues. They don’t care how much you will use, but because they will be losing substantial revenues, they will be paying close attention before taking any action. It is important that YOU engage your customers that purchase menthol cigarettes. I am asking you to ask your customers to do two things:

1. Contact their legislator and let them know that they would like them to oppose any efforts in the legislature to ban menthol cigarettes. I have made provisions for your customers to utilize the NJGCA VoterVoice system that is normally reserved for members to contact their legislators. We have also made a flier that includes the link to our VoterVoice system, so they may easily contact their legislator with a pre-written message. Please print this flier and hand to every customer that purchases menthol cigarettes. Click here for the flier.
2. We have also produced a petition that you should ask every customer that purchases menthol cigarettes to sign. Keep a supply of these on a clipboard at every cash register. Please have your customers sign this until I send you a notice saying that this issue is dead. Keep the petitions in your possession until we need them and then you can mail them here to NJGCA H.Q. Click here for the petition.

 
Check back to our new page at www.njgca.org/menthol-cigarettes for more updates on this issue.
 
Next item on the agenda is something that in the forty years I am in this business I have never encountered. It seems that many New Jersey convenience stores have received a certified letter from a law firm in California notifying them that they plan to file a lawsuit because they are selling illegal male enhancement products. Apparently, the basis of the lawsuit is that they believe you are selling products which are illicit, counterfeit, or otherwise infringe on the products of their clients, which in this case is Outlaw Labs. Further, it also appears that they have filed similar lawsuits to the one referenced in the draft complaint that was enclosed with the certified letter. After reading and digesting this 25 page legal document, I concluded that this was probably either a joke or a scam. However, my job is not to ignore things like this, so I immediately consulted with the NJGCA attorney who began looking into this and upon further investigation, has sent me a written opinion that “no this is not a scam and needs to be addressed properly.” Since this is actually a serious matter, it will require additional research; I will report back to each of you with more information as it comes in. For now, if you have received a certified letter demanding a settlement of $9,765 (or more), it is important that you contact me immediately. It may be necessary for me to convene a meeting for all those who have received this letter. This will require the proper legal response; you might have seen my Wildfire Alert yesterday on this issue, so please be alert for any additional messages I send on this as I will need your immediate response. I have included the first six pages of the 25 page document here.
 
As you all know, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has established new UST rules. These rules are burdensome and complicated and I am concerned that members need to be properly informed about them, or they will be subject to extremely costly fines and penalties. On a positive note, you should already be aware that NJDEP has also come up with new rules that allow you to decommission your Stage II Vapor Recovery systems. However, these rules too may be difficult to understand and must be followed correctly or you will be subject to fines and penalties. Of course, we have also made you aware for the past year that you will be required to implement a Class A/B and C operator training program for each of your UST locations. NJDEP has agreed to conduct a one-day seminar on these three important subjects. More details will follow, but for now, please mark your calendars for April 17th, so that you can attend this event. It will be held at the Imperia in Somerset, NJ, from 8:30 AM until 3 PM, with breakfast and lunch included.

Repair shops pay attention here. Please note that we have updated the Community Right to Know guidance document to include motor oil and antifreeze. You can find that document here.

For the past year NJGCA has been involved with helping the NJ Attorney General defend the “Below Cost Selling” laws that have been on the books for over half a century. Yes, we have defended this law many times over the past 10 years in the legislature, but never in the courts. As a result of a complaint filed by NJGCA in late 2016 against several locations that were selling gasoline below cost, one of the targets of our complaint, Speedway, filed a lawsuit against the State of NJ last February, claiming that the below cost selling law was unconstitutional. NJGCA and our friends at FMANJ assisted the NJ Attorney General in defending the lawsuit and then won round one with a victorious decision in August 2017 when a Superior Court judge ruled in our favor to dismiss the Speedway claims. As expected Speedway filed an appeal.

Over the last few months, I along with my colleague from FMANJ have worked with NJGCA attorney Frank Brennan and FMANJ attorney Bob Bassman, to once again assist the NJ Attorney General in defending the appeal. Together, the two associations have petitioned the court to file an “Amicus” as a “Friend of the Court” with an interest in the outcome of the decision. All briefs have been submitted and since they are now a matter of public record, I can now share them with you, even though the Appeals Court has not rendered a decision. Should you have the time and desire to do so, for those of you with any legal minds, I have included all of the briefs submitted to the court.  Grab a cup of coffee and happy reading. Speedway Appellate brief click here, State of NJ Appellate brief click here, NJGCA/FMANJ substantive brief click here.

That’s it for now,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director