YOUR WEEKLY MEMBER NEWS LETTER:
is a service provided only to members of the Nebraska Petroleum Markers & Convenience Store Association (NPCA). If you have any key personnel that would like to be added at no additional charge, please feel free to reply to
tkeigher@npcainc.com, katie@npcainc.com or call (402)-474-6691.
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2017 NPCA & NPGA JOINT CONVENTION
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REGISTER HERE!
PLATINUM, DINNER, LANYARD, BREAK IN THE COURTYARD, & BEVERAGES ON THE COURSE SPONSOR
PLATINUM SPONSORS:
GOLD SPONSORS:
SILVER SPONSORS:
HOLE SPONSORS:
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Cenex/CHS Propane
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| Federated Insurance |
| NE Lottery |
| WEMAC |
| Sinclair |
| Seneca Tank |
| Valero |
| Growmark |
| Hartland Fuels |
| RJ Reynolds |
| Alria |
| Bosselman T T |
| Otte Oil |
| Shell |
| Cubby's |
| Leak Specialst |
| Phillips 66 |
| Midwest Pump |
| Flint Hills |
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If you have a retail location in Nebraska that sells cigarettes and/or roll-your-own tobacco products, click one of the following for important information:
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A new tool in the arsenal of criminals out to steal credit card data is a card-shaped device that's paper-thin.
July 21, 2017
NACS
Just when you thought the tide might be shifting toward the good guys in the skimming game, the bad guys unleash a new weapon-the shimmer,
WFMY-TV
reports. The paper-thin device about the size of a credit card can be wedged into the card slot of a gas pump or ATM. A microchip embedded in the shimmer, along with flash storage, can grab credit and debit card data that thieves use to create a counterfeit magnetic strip card.
The good news is that shimmers only work on mag-stripe card readers, not on chip readers. The bad news is that it's even harder to see if a shimmer has been secreted inside the card reader.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is alerting the public to be on the lookout for shimmers by monitoring credit and debit card statements. "So, it's account information, it's pin numbers, it's the encrypted information that's already taken place. They'll take that information, and then create dummy cards from that data that was harvested from that machine," said Sandra Guile, a BBB spokeswoman.
The BBB also noted that when inserting a card into a reader with a shimmer, the card sometimes become stuck,
FOX19 in Cincinnati reports. Other suggestions for consumers to protect themselves from shimmers include opting for the chip reader, withdrawing funds inside the bank instead of at the ATM and covering the keypad with your hand when entering a PIN.
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Changes to Permanent Shipping Papers.
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Recently, NCPA has heard from two members that have been stopped by Nebraska State Patrol Carrier Enforcement and informed that their permanent shipping paper(s) are not current.
The changes are more in formatting the information than anything, but one substantial change is that you must also include the updated versions of Emergency Response Guide 127 (over 10% ethanol blends), in addition to Emergency Response Guide 128 (gasoline, gasoline blends 10% or less, diesel, other distillate fuels).
Some other reminders of utilizing a permanent shipping paper are:
- A motor carrier may use a permanent shipping paper for multiple shipments of one or more hazardous materials.
- If a permanent shipping paper is used, a copy of a record of each shipment made must be retained on file for two years. The record must include the hazardous material identification number, shipping name, quantity transported and date of shipment.
There are couple ways that you can meet this requirement:
- Make a copy of the Permanent Shipping Paper for load that it is used for each day,
- Or create a log (paper or electronic (I.e. an Excel Spreadsheet)) recording the pertinent (listed above) and retaining it for a period of two years.
- Delivery of a partial amount of the hazardous material does not require a change to the quantity of product indicated on the permanent shipping paper.
- The quantity indicated on a permanent shipping paper must only be adjusted when additional hazardous material is picked up that exceeds the volume indicated on the permanent shipping paper.
- Drivers must fill in the quantity column on the permanent shipping paper based on compartment contents for mixed loads or cargo tank contents for straight loads. "1" Compartment or "1" Cargo Tank is sufficient. Notation of volume by gallons not required by acceptable.
- Permanent shipping paper should have the ERG #128 & ERG127 emergency response information printed on the back, or attached to the shipping paper in a manner that the pages do not become separated easily. If not ERG Guide #128 & ERG127 MUST be kept separately with the shipping paper in the cab of the truck, preferably in the driver's side door pocket, or somewhere that is readily accessible by emergency personal should the driver not be available to communicate with emergency responders. If the driver is away from the vehicle and the vehicle does not have a driver's side pocket door, placing the shipping papers on the driver's seat is recommended.
Suggestions on accomplishing this is to laminate each document (since each ERG is two pages, putting them back to back is acceptable) and attach them with a "loose-leaf ring" keeping all three documents (shipping paper and ERG#127 & ERG#128) together.
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DOT Withdraws Proposed Sleep Apnea Screening Mandate for CDL Drivers
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The U.S. DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has withdrawn a proposed rule that would require CDL drivers to be screened for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as part of their biennial CDL medical exam. OSA is a respiratory disorder characterized by a reduction or cessation of breathing during sleep that is generally attributed to obesity. Withdrawal of the OSA screening proposal is very good news for petroleum marketers because it could have disqualified even moderately overweight drivers with a body mass index greater than 33 and a neck circumference over 17 inches from operating a commercial motor vehicle.
PMAA vigorously opposed the FMCSA proposal after it was announced in March of 2016. PMAA submitted written comments to the FMCSA arguing that short-haul drivers should be exempt from OSA screening due to lack of sufficient information establishing a causal link between OSA and short-haul truck crashes. PMAA also met with the U.S. DOT's Regulatory Reform Task Force in May urging that the proposed rule be withdrawn altogether.
OSA screening has been under consideration off and on at the FMCSA over the past 15 years without much movement, but gained new momentum after a recent study by the National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) directly linked a series of truck and train accidents to OSA. The study found undiagnosed or inadequately treated moderate to severe OSA can cause unintended sleep episodes and deficits in attention, concentration, situational awareness, memory, and the capacity to safely respond to hazards when driving commercial motor vehicles. The FMCSA said it was withdrawing the proposed rule due to inadequate information.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation this week removed from active consideration a proposed rule that would have mandated installation of speed limiters in all heavy-duty trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds. The DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) stopped short of formally withdrawing the speed limiter proposal altogether, but instead assigned it to "inactive" status, effectively removing the controversial rulemaking from further consideration.
Last year, PMAA submitted written comments to the FMCSA calling on the agency to withdraw the controversial proposal. The proposed rule would have required all newly manufactured heavy-duty trucks to be equipped with speed limiters set to a maximum speed that would be determined in the final rule. A major concern for PMAA was language in the proposed rule that could have extended the speed limiter mandate to existing heavy-duty trucks manufactured after 1990, including petroleum cargo tank vehicles.
PMAA opposed any retrofit requirement in its written comments. PMAA told the FMCSA that safety and crash data used in the agency's analysis was insufficient to move forward with the rule because it did not show that reduced speed would actually increase safety. PMAA also commented that the proposal did not adequately weigh the cost of how the rule would impact small businesses transporters and pointed out that reducing speed to a point between 60 and 68 mph as proposed, would create dangerous driving conditions for heavy duty commercial vehicles.
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PMAA Sends Letter Opposing Electronic Logging Device Mandate
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Earlier this week, PMAA sent a letter in support of legislation introduced last week by Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX). H.R. 3282, known as the "ELD Extension Act of 2017," which would delay the compliance date of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate by two years, to December 2019. The mandate requires trucking companies including petroleum marketers to switch from paper logs to an electronic logging device.
Rep. Babin's introduction of the bill followed the Appropriations Committee report on DOT funding which recommends a study on whether a full or targeted delay of the mandate is needed. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) would be required to produce the findings of the study within 60 days. On June 12, the Supreme Court announced it would not hear a lawsuit challenging the DOT ELD rule, leaving in place a lower court ruling upholding the mandate and its December 18, 2017 compliance deadline.
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A months-long effort by Senate Republicans to pass healthcare legislation collapsed early Friday morning after three Republican Senators (McCain-AZ, Murkowski-AK and Collins-ME) joined Democrats in voting against a "skinny" repeal bill that would have repealed Obamacare. "I regret that our efforts were simply not enough, this time," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on the Senate floor after the vote. "This is clearly a disappointing moment."
McConnell released the long-awaited text of his "skinny" repeal bill late Thursday, a few hours before the vote. It would have ended the requirement that individuals buy health insurance, and suspended through 2026 the requirement that companies provide it for their workers. It would have also extended a moratorium on the tax on medical-device makers through 2020 and increased the amount that individuals can contribute to health-savings accounts. Lastly, the measure would have defunded Planned Parenthood for one year.
It is unclear when another healthcare bill will be brought up for a vote on the Senate floor.
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Border Adjustment Tax is No Longer on the Table
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The controversial border adjustment tax (BAT) will not be included in a comprehensive tax reform package that Congressional leadership and the White House plan to release very soon. In a statement issued by the "Big Six," House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch confirmed that BAT is dead.
Specifically, the BAT would end deductibility for any costs or expenses associated with imported goods. For example, refiners who rely heavily on imported crude oil, or wholesalers who import product, could be faced with higher taxes requiring prices to be raised on those products, which would then lead to an overall increase in motor and heating fuel prices. However, the plan would allow companies to exclude revenues they received on exports, meaning only revenue derived from inside the U.S. would be subject to income tax. Given the overwhelming opposition to BAT from thousands of businesses nationwide, Congress never had the votes to approve a BAT.
Last week, PMAA sent a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) regarding his request for stakeholder comments on overhauling the tax code. Specifically, PMAA raised its concerns with the House GOP tax reform "blue print" which called for a border adjustment tax ("BAT"). Click here to read the letter.
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DOT Program Will Allow for Reconsideration of CSA Rulings
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Beginning next week, August 1, 2017, a new DOT pilot program will permit drivers to dispute crashes that occurred on or after June 1, 2017 that were ruled preventable, and possibly have those crashes removed or deemed not preventable from their Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scores.
PMAA has supported all attempts to stop the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) from proceeding with the Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) rulemaking until all reforms related to the Compliance, Safety and Accountability/Safety Measurement System (CSA/SMS) programs mandated by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) are completed.
The FMCSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: "Carrier Safety Fitness Determination" on January 21, 2016. The current safety fitness rating system ranks carriers as Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory based on a comprehensive safety compliance review. The rule proposes to radically modify the Safety Fitness rating system in which carriers are evaluated for both the enforcement community and the general public. The new methodology would be based on on-road safety data using five of the Agency's seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs); an investigation, which would consider all seven BASICs, or a combination of on-road safety data and investigation information. The proposed new system would remove all of the existing ratings and create only one rating, "Unfit."
PMAA's primary concern with the proposal is that the new proposed methodology utilizes flawed CSA/SMS data and scores, which pursuant to the FAST Act, Congress has directed the agency to completely overhaul. While we support the goal of an easily understandable, rational safety fitness determination system, this proposal is built on a flawed foundation. FMCSA must complete reforms to the CSA/SMS system before proceeding to a new method of evaluating safety fitness of carriers.
The Crash Preventability Demonstration Program will accept requests for data reviews (RDRs) to the FMCSA to evaluate the preventability of certain crashes. RDRs can be made through the existing DataQs data correction system.
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Rule Proposed to Repeal Obama's WOTUS
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A rule proposed by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers was introduced on Thursday which would negate the Obama Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule and cement the status quo while the Trump Administration works on its own rule based on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's much narrower interpretation of which streams and wetlands warrant federal protection by December.
In the meantime, the House EPA Appropriations bill contains language that would shield EPA's effort to withdraw the WOTUS regulation from legal challenges, as does language that would delay implementation of the 2015 ozone standard until 2025. The Appropriations bill also contains an amendment from Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) barring the development of any rule or guidance document related to the social cost of carbon and an amendment by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) that restores fossil energy funding to fiscal 2017 levels.
The WOTUS rule is important to petroleum marketers because it defines how far federal clean water regulations extend into local land use and permitting decisions including the construction of new gasoline stations and surface water runoff from parking and fueling areas. Many petroleum marketers with bulk storage could also be adversely affected by the revised 2015 definition from the Obama Administration.
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DOL Issues Request for Information on Overtime Rule
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On Tuesday, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a request for information on last year's Obama Administration's overtime rule, meaning it is seeking public comments for the next 60 days. In the request for information, DOL acknowledged complaints from business groups that the Obama Administration's salary threshold was too high.
The request solicits opinion on whether DOL should adjust the 2004 salary threshold of $23,660 to inflation; whether there should be "multiple standard salary levels" based on the size of the employer, census region or other factors; whether there should be "different standard salary levels for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions"; whether the 2016 rule supplanted the duties test; whether the salary threshold should update automatically; and whether employers should rely only on a duties test "without regard to the amount of salary paid by the employer."
Late last year, a Texas federal judge blocked the Obama Administration's final overtime rule just days before it was to go into effect. The Obama Administration's DOL rule would have raised the salary threshold for receiving mandatory overtime from $23,660 to $47,500 a year.
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Bill Introduced to Clarify Joint Employer Meaning
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This week, Reps. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced legislation H.R. 3441, known as the "Save Local Business Act," which would roll back the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) 2015 Browning-Ferris decision that expanded the definition of joint employment. Under the bill, a company could be labeled a joint employer only if it were "directly, actually, and immediately" involved in another business' core functions of employment.
Last month, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced that DOL was withdrawing the Obama Administration's informal guidance on joint employment.
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Bill to Curtail Menu Labeling Requirements Passes House E&C Committee
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Yesterday, the "Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act" (H.R. 772), introduced by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Tony Cardenas (D-CA), was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 39-14. The bill would give retailers the flexibility they need to comply with the menu labeling regulations. Earlier in the week, PMAA joined 200 companies and organizations in a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging the Committee to approve H.R. 772. Initial industry estimates put compliance with the current rule at more than $1 billion and rising due to the regulatory hurdles. Companion legislation has been introduced by Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Angus King (I-ME), (S. 261).
Originally, FDA enforcement of the menu labeling rule was expected to begin on May 5, 2017. However, a few days before the enforcement date, the FDA extended compliance and enforcement of the menu labeling rule until May 7, 2018. The delay is good news for convenience store owners as it allows more time for Congress or the Administration to correct the onerous requirements. Now FDA is seeking input regarding the rule and PMAA will submit comments prior to next week's August 2 deadline.
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Federated Insurance is offering complimentary risk management training for PMAA members on September 11-13, 2017. Through this valuable session, you will discover methods you can use immediately to help protect profits by reducing risk at your business.
Companies that are the most successful at controlling losses and protecting profits have integrated risk management into their overall company culture. Many have designated a key person as their risk manager. This person is supported by your company's top management and is both responsible and accountable for identifying loss exposures and implementing risk management solutions.
This seminar's objective is to help your risk manager learn the exposures specific to the petroleum industry, connect with peers from across the country and apply these best practices within your business.
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"Attending this training is one of the best investments you can make to help protect your business and its bottom line!" 2016 RMA Attendee
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You can learn more by viewing a brief
video about the Risk Management Academy. To reserve your spot in the upcoming session or for more information, please contact
Royetta Spurgeon or 800.533.0472 Ext. 455-5604 or visit
Federated's website.
Federated is a PMAA Corporate Platinum Partner
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Please Make Your Hotel Reservations Now for PMAA's Fall Meeting at the NACS Show in October
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PMAA will hold its Fall Meeting in conjunction with the NACS Show on October 16-17 at the Hilton Chicago. The PMAA meeting will begin with a New Attendee Orientation mid-afternoon on October 17 followed by a Board Briefing. A welcome reception with NACS to State Association Leaders will follow at McCormick Place. On the morning of October 17, there will be a Buffet Breakfast followed by Region and Committee Meetings. The PMAA Board of Directors meeting is scheduled after the Distinguished Service Award Luncheon sponsored by PMAA's Corporate Platinum Partner Federated Insurance. Former Arkansas Association Executive Ann Hines is this year's recipient of PMAA's highest honor.
For all details on Hotel and Travel, please view here. You can find weblinks to PMAA's Fall Meeting at the NACS Show here or you can go directly here for our event website for all details including registration with secure event payment processing through Cvent.
Please note that the NACS Show registration is separate from the PMAA Meeting Registration.
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PMAA Corporate Platinum Partner Spotlight Featuring: Federated's Risk Management Corner
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The Heat is On
It's not the heat, it's the humidity! Unless you work outdoors, that is. Then it's both. Working outside on a nice summer day can be a pleasure. But if your job takes you outdoors when it's hot and humid, it can stop being pleasurable and become downright dangerous. In 2015 alone, 37 workers died and 2,010 were injured from environmental heat exposure.
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Please click here to read the article in its entirety. For additional information or to discuss further, please contact your Federated regional representative or PMAA's National Account Executive Jerry Leemkuil at 800.533.0472. Federated is a PMAA Corporate Platinum Partner.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; https://data.bls.gov/gqt/InitialPage
Accessed 4/24/2017
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Thank You to NPCA's Partners
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Nebraska Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association | (402) 474-6691 |
www.npcainc.com |
1320 Lincoln Mall, Suite 100B
Lincoln, NE 68508
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