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February 17, 2017 | www.npcainc.com
In This Issue
Quick Links
GLW Scholarship
Skimmer Training Presentation
Nebraska UST Operator Training
 2015-2016 GLW Scholarship Winners
Upcoming Events

February 24-25
May 17-19
PMAA Washington Conference & Day on the  Hill,  Click here for more info
June 6 GLW Scholarship Golf Outing, York, NE
August 2-3 2017 NPCA Convention
October 16-17 PMAA Fall Meeting at NACS

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.
 
HAPPENINGS IN THE NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE THIS WEEK
The clock is ticking down towards Sine Die and the Nebraska Legislature is a little over a third of the way there. On Wednesday of last week, lawmakers completed 30 days of this 90-day session and had completed 31 days of this year's Legislative Session, before adjourning for a well-deserved four-day weekend.
 
The session had been moving at a snail's pace as lawmakers have been debating/bantering since the beginning of the session over their own legislative rules.
 
On Wednesday of this week, Speaker Scheer offered a motion to extend the temporary rules that lawmakers had adopted at the beginning of the session and that had previously been extended, for another 20 legislative days, or until day 50, March 20th. Lawmakers voted 45-1 in an effort to move forward and allow bills that have been advanced from committees to be debated on the floor of the Legislature.
 
The temporary rules are those that the previous session had ended on and are typically adopted at the beginning of a new session, to allow for lawmakers to propose changes to the rules.
 
Unlike previous sessions, this year senators have not been able to come to an agreement on adopting one specific proposed rule change. That rule change would make changes to the number of votes required to stop a filibuster.
 
Under previous session rules, and that contained in the temporary rules that lawmakers are following currently, it takes 17 senators - weather they vote no, are absent or don't vote - to sustain a filibuster.
 
Under a proposal offered by Senator Larson, and supported by the "group of 26" that banned together at the beginning of the session, to elect Speaker Scheer, and all but one republican committee, would have changed the makeup of the number required to cease debate or continue a filibuster.
 
The proposal would have required 30 "yes" votes to cease debate, currently 33 are needed, or 19 confirmed "no" votes to sustain a filibuster. This rule change was adopted 25 ayes, 19 nays, 3 present not voting, and 2 excused and not voting, but has yet to be adopted as part of the permanent rules.
 
With the extension of the temporary rules lawmakers moved five bills from General File on Thursday.
 
This week also saw Speaker Scheer announce that he would reduce the number of hours before a cloture vote could be taken to: six hours on General File, three hours on Select File, and one and one half hours on Final Reading, previously it has been eight, four and two hours respectively.
 
Speaker Scheer also indicated that he might consider a cloture motion being offered prior to his newly imposed time limits depending on "the quality of debate" and the number of senators participating in the debate.
 
Speaker Scheer also said, "My perception is we have a set floor, not a ceiling. Very contentious issues could go longer."
 
While the actions of the Legislature this week offer the hope of moving the session along, the reaming 60 days will see the legislature the process accelerate in meeting the following deadlines in hopes of senators passing legislation they introduced.
 
March 8, Prior to Adjournment
* Deadline for senators to submit a letter to the Speaker requesting designation of a bill as a 2017 speaker priority bill
 
March 9, Prior to Adjournment
* Deadline for designation of committee and senator priority bills
 
March 13
* Speaker priority bills announced prior to adjournment
 
March 23
* Date to complete committee public hearings on introduced bills
 
March 28
* Full-day floor debate begins
 
This week Governor Pete Ricketts singed LB22 into law. LB22 makes $137 million in cuts to help balance the remaining six months of the current biennium budget.
 
Up next is the Appropriations Committee's focus and work on the next biennium budget (2017-2018, 2018-2019), which is projected to see a projected shortfall of $900 million. The Appropriations Committee, by rule, must advance a proposed budget to General File by the 70th working day (April 24th) and must pass a balanced budget by the 80th day (May 10th).
 
While the projected shortfall is currently at $900 million, the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board, which will meet next on February 27 to update their projections for this fiscal year and the next two years could have a major impact in either direction on what actions will be needed in crafting the next biennium budget.
 
2017 Upcoming Hearings
Hearing Date
Bill Number
Introducer
Committee
On Liner
2/21/2017
LB331
Speaker Scheer
Appropriations
Create funds, provide for transfers, and change provisions governing funds. Makes various transfers from cash funded agencies "excess" balances. $108,700 Supreme Court Atty. Services Cash Fund to Judges Retirement Cash Fund. L.U.S.T. fund transfer $1.5 million
2/21/2017
LB612
Wayne
Transportation
Require direct access to 911 emergency service from certain telephone systems using Internet protocol-enabled services. As stated in the bill's Statement of Intent: The bill will "require organizations that operate phone systems with outbound access to allow users direct access to local emergency services without additional codes, prefixes, or digits."
Stated another way, if you have a phone system that requires you to dial an access code, typically "9", then the area code and phone number, you will be required to make changes to your phone system that allows direct dial of 911.
In other words, you would not have to dial "9,911", but only "911".
2/21/2017
LB579
McDonnell
Urban Affairs
Provide for termination of city occupation taxes subject to a vote and require vote on tax rate changes. As stated in the bill's Statement of Intent: "LB 579 would require a vote by the citizens of a city of the metropolitan class on whether to extend an occupation tax or not. If the city council decides not to bring the extension to a vote by the citizens, the occupation tax will cease four years after the date the tax goes into effect. Should the occupation tax come to a vote by the citizens and be extended, the city council will need to bring it to a vote by the people every four years after the initial effective date to continue to extend the tax."
2/22/2017
LB165
Brewer
Judiciary
Require employer identification numbers and use of the federal immigration verification system. As stated in the bill's Statement of Intent: "LB165 would extend the current Nebraska requirement for public employers and contractors to use the federal immigration verification system (E-Verify), which is used to confirm the citizenship or immigration status of employees for work eligibility, to also require every employer making payment subject to withholding to use the federal E-Verify system to confirm such legal status of new employees, beginning January 1, 2018."
2/22/2017
LB312
Briese
Revenue
Change and eliminate revenue and taxation provisions. Eliminates trade in allowances for motor vehicles, motorboats. Taxes, soft drinks, candy, bottled water, lottery tickets, prepaid calling cards, newspapers, laundromats, repair services, lawn care, taxi, accounting (excluding services for a for-profit business), legal services (excluding services for a for-profit business), Labor for Repair of motor vehicles, other, making all subject to sales tax.
2/22/2017
LB313
Briese
Revenue
Change the sales tax rate and the earned income tax credit and provide property tax credits. Increases state sales tax by 1% to 6.5%.
2/22/2017
LB563
McCollister
Revenue
Impose sales tax on certain services and eliminate certain sales tax exemptions. Newspapers, laundromats, Teleflora delivers, lottery, main/repair services, lawn care, storage, taxi, long list of new service taxes.
2/24/2017
LB299
Ebke
Government
Adopt the Occupational Board Reform Act and change procedures for rules and regulations.
As stated in the bill's Statement of Intent the bill will:
 * Increase employment by reducing barriers-to-entry into occupations;
* Increase the availability of providers that will increase competition, stimulate innovation, improve quality and lower prices, particularly in low-income communities;
* Protect consumers more effectively by borrowing from First Amendment law and establishing a state policy of using the least restrictive regulation needed to protect against harms;
* Establish Sunrise and Sunset processes to ensure that legislation for new regulation and existing regulations are scrutinized to ensure they protect consumers, and not solely give advantages to licensees; and
* Give Nebraskans with a criminal record a second chance by accelerating the process by which an offender can determine if past convictions will disqualify him from an occupational license.
2/24/2017
LB253
Crawford
Revenue
Authorize intergovernmental service agreements under the County Industrial Sewer Construction Act and provide for a special tax levy
2/24/2017
LB602
Erdman
Revenue
Change and eliminate provisions relating to the valuation of agricultural land. Basis on net earning capacity, within district classifications.
Bills of Interest 

GEORGE L. WATTERS SCHOLARSHIP
SHARE WITH EMPLOYEES

George L. Watters Scholarship

Amount: $1,000 minimum
 
Deadline is March 15th
 

Eligibility : Graduating seniors from any high school in Nebraska

Criteria: Offspring of a Nebraska Petroleum Marketer or their employee, will attend college in Nebraska, upper 1/3 of high school class. The George L. Watters Memorial Scholarship was established in 1988. George Watters was an outstanding and well-respected representative of the petroleum marketing industry. Following his death several years ago, the Nebraska Petroleum Marketers Association established this scholarship to properly recall George's leadership and integrity in the field. The Nebraska Petroleum Marketers, a member of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, seeks to unify petroleum marketers throughout the state to effectively further the common interests of the petroleum marketing industry.
 

PACE SHOW THIS WEEK, SEE YOU THERE!



SEE YOU AT THE SHOW!

EPA NOMINEE PRUITT TO BE CONFIRMED LATER TODAY
Yesterday, Democratic Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) joined all Senate Republicans to move ahead with Scott Pruitt's nomination to lead the EPA. The final vote will take place later today and it's expected that Scott Pruitt will be confirmed as the next EPA Administrator.

If confirmed, Pruitt will be able to rewrite or rescind environmental regulations including the RFS. In 2013, Pruitt filed a "friend of the court" brief in an RFS lawsuit challenging the corn ethanol mandate. "The evidence is clear that the current ethanol fuel mandate is unworkable," Pruitt said in a press statement in 2013. Supporters, including Senate EPW Chairman Barrasso of Wyoming, say he would rein in overzealous Obama-era rules and restore balance to environmental regulation, making good on Trump's promise to focus the EPA on its core mission of protecting the air and water.

Meanwhile, uncertainty on how the Trump Administration will tackle the RFS has significantly reduced the value of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs). Responsibility for complying with the RFS currently falls to refiners who must buy RINs to prove their fuel has been blended with biofuel. Companies, including Valero and CVR Energy, have said they are being pressed by the annual government mandates that require that they use increasing amounts of ethanol in motor fuels. These companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with the RFS and have petitioned EPA to shift this responsibility downstream to "position holders" at the terminal rack.

PMAA continues to urge Congress and the Administration to lower the corn ethanol mandate which will resolve UST compatibility concerns with E10 plus blends. Additionally, reducing the ethanol mandate will reduce RIN values which will bring fairness to the retail motor fuels marketplace.

This week, PMAA and other members of the Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC) sent a letter to President Trump.

We requested that the President sign an Executive Order authorizing the next White House Conference on Small Business (WHCSB) which has not taken place in over two decades.

The WHCSB was a series of conferences that occurred in 1980, 1986, and 1995. They were convened by Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton to foster better relationships with the business community, Congress and the White House to develop innovative policy solutions to economic problems.

Each of the Conferences issued 60 policy recommendations, and elected regional implementation teams that worked closely with Small Business Administration (SBA) officials in monitoring congressional and executive branch action on the recommendations. Small businesses account for 99 percent of U.S. private sector employers and 64 percent of net new private sector jobs. It's time for another White House Conference on Small Business.
BILLS INTRODUCED TO MINIMIZE OR ELIMINATE EPA
Last week, Representative Sam Johnson (R-TX) introduced the "Wasteful EPA Programs Elimination Act" which would close all EPA regional offices, eliminate climate change programs, halt new regulations on ground-level ozone pollution, and require the agency to lease unused property.

Government coffers would save $7.5 billion annually, leaving the agency with a budget of less than $1 billion. Other legislation that would eliminate the EPA was introduced recently by Rep. Gaetz (R-FL). 

PMAA URGES CHAO TO REFORM CARRIER SAFETY FITNESS PROGRAM
PMAA joined other industries this week in asking DOT Secretary Chao to rescind the Safety Fitness Determination NPRM until FMCSA completes reforms to the Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) program/Safety Measurement System (SMS).

Last year, the FMCSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: "Carrier Safety Fitness Determination." The current safety fitness rating system ranks carriers as Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory based on a comprehensive safety compliance review. The proposal would 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 will 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."

Our primary concern with the proposal is that the methodology utilizes flawed CSA/SMS data and scores, which Congress directed the agency to review and reform just months earlier in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Systems Act (FAST Act) enacted in December of 2015.

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.
Federated Insurance is offering complimentary risk management training for petroleum marketers on April 24-26, 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 top management and is both responsible and accountable for identifying loss exposures and implementing risk management solutions.

This seminar is geared toward helping your risk manager learn the exposures specific to our industry, Connect with peers from across the country, and apply these best practices within your business.

Class size is limited to 25. For more information or to reserve your spot in the upcoming session, please contact Royetta Spurgeon at Federated Insurance by calling 507.455.5604, or e-mailing drm@fedins.com. Federated is a PMAA Corporate Platinum Partner.
ANNUAL EPCRA TIER II REPORTS DUE BY MARCH 1, 2017
EPA EPCRA Tier II reports must be filed for bulk plants, marinas and fleet fueling facilities and select retail gasoline facilities that stored more than 10,000 pounds (minimum 1,626 gallons) of hazardous chemicals (petroleum fuels) at any single time during the 2016 calendar year. EPCRA 2016 reports must be filed with state emergency response authorities no later than March 1, 2017 . Retail gasoline facilities with a storage capacity greater than 75,000 gallons of gasoline and/or 100,000 gallons or more of diesel fuel must also file EPCRA reports. Federal regulations exempt retail fueling facilities at or below these product capacity thresholds from the annual Tier II inventory reporting. Some states have set lower reporting thresholds, use unique Tier II reporting forms or require electronic filing. Petroleum marketers should contact their state EPCRA office to verify any state variances in Tier II reporting requirements (see contact information below).
EPCRA PAPER FORMS AND ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION SOFTWARE:
  • EPCRA Tier II forms for paper filing may be downloaded here: EPCRA Forms.
  • IMPORTANT! Many states now require EPCRA reports be filed electronically and have adopted the EPA's Tier2 Submit electronic filing portal. Tier2 Submit electronic filing for Windows and MacIntosh applications may be downloaded here: EPCRA Electronic Filing.
  • An electronic filing tutorial may be downloaded here: Electronic Filing Tutorial.
  • A complete list of state EPCRA Tier II requirements and procedures can be downloaded here: State EPCRA Requirements.
EPCRA CAS NUMBERS:
  • The following CAS designations (from material safety data sheets) must also be included on EPCRA Tier II reports;
    • o    Gasoline (CAS 8006-61-9);
    • o    Diesel Fuel (CAS 68476-34-6);
    • o    Kerosene (CAS 8008-20-6);
    • o    Fuel Oil (CAS 68476-30-2);
    • o    Aviation Gasoline (CAS Mixture);
    • o    Jet A (CAS Mixture);
    • o    JP 8 (CAS Mixture).
EPCRA NAICS CODE:
  • Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes can no longer be used to describe facilities on EPCRA Tier II reports. Instead, North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes must be used. Applicable NAICS codes for the petroleum marketing industry include:
    • o    Petroleum Bulk plants - NAICS 424710
    • o    Heating Oil Dealers - NAICS 454311
    • o    Retail Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores - NAICS 447110
    • o    Retail Gasoline Stations without Convenience Stores - NAICS 447190
    • o    Cardlock Sites - NAICS 447190.
PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO FILE EPCRA TIER II:
  • The EPA fine for violating EPCRA Tier II reporting is $37,500 per day, per violation. EPA checks for filing of EPCA Tier II reports during routine compliance audits or after a release has occurred.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO TIER II FORM:
  • EPCRA Tier II forms now ask whether the facility is subject to emergency planning under Section 302 of EPCRA (Toxic Release Inventory or TRI) or the chemical accident prevention requirements under 112r of the Clean Air Act (Risk Management Program or RMP). For small bulk plant operators the answer to these questions is almost always "NO". Typically, small petroleum bulk plants operated by petroleum marketers located downstream of the terminal rack are NOT subject to TRI or RMP. While these small bulk plants must comply with Spill prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) this is not the same as TRI or RMP. 

PMAA CORPORATE PLATINUM PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: BP PRODUCTS NORTH AMERICA, INC. 
The Officers, Executive Committee, and PMAA staff are pleased to announce that BP Products North America, Inc. has recently upgraded to a PMAA Corporate Platinum Partner! BP Products has been a long time partner of PMAA.

BP is the largest oil and gas producer and one of the largest gasoline retailers in the United States with more than 15,000 BP, Amoco, and ARCO branded stations. BP has a strong commitment to our jobber and dealer channels of business. Our marketers benefit from: a bold and powerful image; the Amoco branded fuels slate - which has a long history of being rated #1 in consumer quality; a powerful credit card base; superior branded marketing programs; the ARCO and ampm West Coast offer; Castrol lubricants, world class brand strength; and a U.S. market share leader.

For more information on PMAA's Corporate Partner program, please visit or contact Susan Isard or 703.351.8000.
TRIPLE PROTECTION PLAN - AN EMPLOYEE RETENTION STRATEGY
Over the years you've built a profitable business. You've invested your money, your time, and your passion. Now ask yourself, "What is my most valuable business asset?" While physical assets-the buildings and equipment-support financial goals, the success of many businesses can be traced to the good judgment, skills, and expertise of your key employees.
What if a competitor makes your key employee an offer he/she can't refuse?
What is the impact on the business if you or your key employee dies?
What happens to your key employee's family when the paycheck stops?
Your key employees aren't listed on your balance sheet or your income statement, but what they do shows up there. Unfortunately, many business owners train and mentor employees with the intention they will stay forever only to have them leave. Most people don't realize how costly this can be because they have not thought about losing an employee nor the consequences associated with that loss.

Please read the article in its entirety here. For additional information or to discuss this in further detail, 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.

Thank You to NPCA's Partners

  
  
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Want to be an NPCA Partner, Contact  Katie Navratil  for details    Click here  for more information.
Nebraska Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association | (402) 474-6691 | www.npcainc.com |
1320 Lincoln Mall, Suite 100B
Lincoln, NE 68508