It may sound like a broken record, but that does not mean the message is any less important. Your voice must be heard and you can make a difference on two issues critical to your business.
Tobacco
First, on Thursday next week, March 6, the House Subcommittee on Health will vote on legislation (H.R.1108) granting the Food and Drug Administration with regulatory authority over tobacco operations. Most of those legislators who support this bill are primarily interested in regulating the manufacturers — they do not want to saddle the FDA with regulating 300,000 retail locations. But they need to hear from you if they are going to stand up and demand changes to the bill.
It is absolutely critical that you contact your representatives and tell them that the bill's provisions on retail sales unfairly threaten your livelihood, are unworkable, and are generally inequitable.
Our message is simple: the retail provisions of H.R.1108 are less effective than the current system of state regulation and are unfair. Every state already regulates tobacco sales and this system has shown improvement every year for the last decade.
Urge your representatives (or their staffs) to fix the retail provisions or eliminate them altogether. You can find their legislator by clicking here.
For more background information, you can access the following:
Interchange Fees
In other developments, support in Congress is growing for the Credit Card Fair Fee Act. It is clear that calls made by retailers to their representatives are have a positive effect on this effort. Consequently, Chairman Conyers and Rep. Cannon have elected to postpone introduction of the bill by a week or two to allow interested members of Congress additional time to review the legislation and sign on as original cosponsors.
This gives you additional time to make sure your representatives know how important the issue of credit card fees is to you and your business. Contact him or her now and ask them to cosponsor the Credit Card Fair Fee Act.
It is rare that two critical issues affecting your business are moving at the same time. But this is an important moment for the convenience and petroleum retailing industry. It is imperative that your voice be heard. Please act now to ensure your representatives understand how these issues will affect your business.
Have a great weekend!
John Eichberger
Vice President, Government Relations