BOSTON, MA – During a state House hearing on May 18, Massachusetts retailers urged state legislators to take a serious look at reducing credit card fees and enforcing tougher gasoline theft penalties to help bring down prices at the pump, reports the Boston Globe.

Paul F. O'Connell, who owns an Exxon station in Lunenburg and is a spokesman for the New England Service Station and Automotive Repair Association, told state legislators that 26 states consider gasoline theft a serious crime punishable by license revocation or up to $500 in fines; whereas gasoline theft "is treated as any other shoplifting misdemeanor under Bay State law."

O'Connell commented that gasoline theft, or "drive-offs," end up costing consumers because retailers often increase their prices to recover from their losses.

Retailers also "deluged" the state Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy with concerns about high credit card processing fees, which amount to 3 percent of each transaction, writes the newspaper. Retailers told the committee that state action to cap credit card transaction fees could bring down fuel prices at least 5 or 6 cents per gallon.

Mobil station owner John Tamvakologos told the committee he paid $30,000 in April alone in credit card fees.

"You're working on a margin of just pennies, and that's coming straight out of your bottom line," said Tamvakologos, adding, "The credit card fees are a significant problem."

State Sen. Michael W. Morrissey (D-Quincy) commented that the notion of capping card fees on gasoline transactions is "an interesting idea," but that he expected the state's ability to act on card fees would likely be preempted by federal legislation.

Nessa E. Feddis, senior counsel at the American Bankers Association, which represents most U.S. card companies, told the newspaper that the transaction fees retailers "are complaining about" are set in a competitive market, adding the countries with lower card fees "can do so because of government regulations."

"A lot of station owners may not be focusing on all the benefits they get for those fees," Feddis told the newspaper, adding, "If you follow all the rules as a retailer, you are guaranteed payment. Customers are more likely to fill up their tank because they don't have to worry about how much cash they have. And cash has costs: You have to worry about protecting it and being a victim of crime."

Rep. Brian S. Dempsey (D-Haverhill), co-chair of the committee, commented that he found both the credit card fees and gasoline theft proposals "intriguing."

Dempsey said that the legislature recognizes that card fees is a global, national and federal issue, but that the committee "wanted to at least explore what could be some options for us to do whatever we can to help consumers cope with the spike in gas prices."

Recognizing that the state legislature would like to pass some sort of legislative relief to bring down fuel prices, Dempsey noted that a proposal to waive the state's gasoline tax of 21 cents a gallon is unlikely to pass.

"'We've got to be very, very cautious," said Dempsey, adding, "That's a $200 million hit" to the state budget.