ALEXANDRIA, VA - Advocacy and speaking with one voice on Capitol Hill has been integral to NACS since its founding in 1961, and with the pace of government regulation increasing throughout the 1970s, NACS stepped up and enhanced its advocacy efforts.

In 1980, NACSPAC (the NACS Political Action Committee) was formed. Two years later, NACS hired Teri Richman as it first in-house lobbyist. The pieces were now in place for NACS to grow its advocacy efforts.

"By election time in 1982, we plan for NACSPAC to be actively involved in several U.S. Senate and House races that will have a bearing on convenience store operations," said Wawa??s Richard D. Wood Jr., vice chairman of the NACS Executive Committee for Legislation, in 1981.

But that was only the beginning. In the years since government relations because a significant part of NACS?? support for the industry, issues including fuels regulations, security, depreciation, and, most recently, swipe fees.