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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HAPPENINGS IN THE NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE THIS WEEK
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 Nebraska lawmakers have been able to hold floor debate on several bills since agreeing to operate under temporary legislative rules, which they approved to work under until day 50, Monday, March 20th.
While only two bills have been signed into law by Governor Ricketts, LB22, adjustments to the final six months of the current biennium budget, and LB119e that delays the date from March 1st to June 1 for 2017 only to certify state aid, budget authority, and
applicable allowable reserve percentages under the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act (TEEOSA), the K-12 funding formula.
This delay is needed for 2017 to allow the all parties involved in providing state aid to schools, i.e the Appropriations and Educations Committees to make the adjustments to the remining six months of the current biennium, which were accomplished in LB22, and to craft the next biennium budget (2017 - 2018 & 2018-2019).
The Appropriations Committee continues to take testimony from state agencies on their respective budgets and awaits the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Board's February 27th meeting to update its revenue projections. This next meeting of the board will be a key factor in crafting the next biennium budget, which must be advanced to the floor of the Legislature no later than the 70th legislative day, April 24th, and all appropriation bills must be passed by the 80th day or May 10th.
Thus far lawmakers have moved 35 bills from General File and have eight bills on Select File and 12 on Final Reading.
Individual senators and committees have started naming their respective priority bills and thus far nine have been named priority bills. In fact, one, LB470, one of the General Affairs Committee's Priority Bills has been debated on the Legislative floor and fell short, by one vote, of obtaining the necessary 25 votes to advance from General File.
Senators, whom get one priority bill and committees, whom get two priority bills will continue to designate priority bills as the deadline of March 9th to designate such nears. The deadline to request a Speaker Priority bill is March 7th, of which he gets 25.
All nine of the current senator and committee priority bills are listed below.
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2017 Priority Bills
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Bill Number
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Introducer
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Committee
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On Liner
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2017 Priority
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LB44
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Watermeier
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Revenue
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Adopt the Remote Seller Sales Tax Collection Act. Internet sales tax collection.
As stated in the Statement of Intent:
"LB 44 proposes to adopt the Remote Seller Sales Tax Collection Act. The legislation would require remote sellers (online retailer without a physical presence in our state) to collect and remit sales tax if their gross revenue in Nebraska exceeds $100,000 or their sales in Nebraska consist of 200 or more separate transactions.
If the remote seller refuses to collect Nebraska sales tax, the remote seller would have to notify Nebraska purchasers that the sales or use tax is due and that the State of Nebraska requires the purchaser to file a sales or use tax return. The remote seller would be subject to a $5 penalty for each failure to notify. Furthermore, the remote seller must send notification annually to Nebraska purchasers by January 31 reflecting the total amount of purchases made in the previous year. Failure to send this notification would subject the remote seller to a $10 penalty. Finally, the remote seller is required to file an annual statement for each purchaser by March 1 with the Department of Revenue showing the total amount paid in the previous year. Failure to file this annual statement would subject the remote seller to a penalty of $10 for each purchaser that should have been included on the statement."
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Watermeier
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LB88
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Blood
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Health
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Provide for temporary credentials under the Uniform Credentialing Act for military spouses. Allow military spouses to obtain a temporary license in a variety of professions if those spouses meet the comparable and equivalent requirements. The license will be valid for six months, allowing the spouses the time to get their permanent certificate or permit.
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Blood
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LB92
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Kolterman
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Banking
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Require health carriers to provide coverage for telehealth services.
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Kolterman
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LB181
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Quick
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Business & Labor
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Provide for reimbursement to employees for certain medical examinations under the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act. Seeks payment for a second medical opinion.
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Quick
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LB195
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Craighead
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Health
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Require notification following mammography as prescribed
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Craighead
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LB203
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Kuehn
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Business & Labor
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Change provisions relating to maximum annual unemployment benefits and disqualification for benefits.
As stated in the Business and Labor Committee's Committee Statement:
"Sec. 1. reiterates current law of what unemployment benefits an eligible individual is entitled to during a benefit year. Section 1 restates the law beginning for benefit years on or after October 1, 2018. Under current law and in Section 1, for any benefit year beginning on or after October 1, 2018, an individual is entitled to benefits of twenty-six times his or her weekly benefit amount or one-third of his or her wages as employed per calendar quarter, whichever is less. However, when an individual is separated from employment under which the individual could have been determined disqualified (due to leaving work voluntarily without good cause or due to discharge for misconduct), the amount of benefits the individual is entitled to will be reduced as follows:
If the claimant was disqualified for benefits due to leaving work voluntarily without good cause, the total benefit amount is reduced by (i) two times the weekly benefit amount if the individual left work voluntarily to accept previously secured, full-time, insured work, which the individual does accept or (ii) thirteen times the weekly benefit amount if the individual left work voluntarily without good cause for any reason other than previously described.
If the claimant is separated from employment due to discharge for misconduct, the weekly benefit amount is reduced by fourteen times the weekly benefit amount.
This is current law, and is restated in Section 1. Sec. 2. creates a new policy consideration. Instead of the thirteen week waiting period for voluntary quits without good cause required under current law, it establishes that for any benefit year beginning on or after October 1, 2018, an individual is disqualified for benefits for the week in which the individual left work voluntarily without good cause and for all subsequent weeks until that individual has earned wages of at least four times his/her weekly benefit amount and has separated from the most recent subsequent employment under non-disqualifying conditions.
A temporary employee of a temp firm is defined as leaving work voluntarily without good cause if that employee does not contact the firm for reassignment following completion of an assignment when advised to do so. This is a restatement of current law, as well.
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Business & Labor
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LB409
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Groene
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Education
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Change the base limitation and local effort rate for school districts
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Education
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LB447
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Chambers
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Judiciary
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Eliminate certain mandatory minimum penalties. As stated in the Business and Labor Committee's Committee Statement:
"The bill keeps the current statutory construction of dividing felony offenses into ten classes, which differentiate from one another by the penalties that may be authorized upon conviction.
This bill would eliminate the mandatory minimum sentences for Class IC and ID felonies.
The bill would keep the non-mandatory minimum penalty for a Class IC felony would remain five years' imprisonment, and the now non-mandatory minimum penalty for a Class ID felony would remain three years' imprisonment."
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Chambers
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LB470
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Larson
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General Affairs
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Change provisions of the Nebraska County and City Lottery Act relating to the manner of play of keno, use of electronic tickets, and authorized methods of payment. This bill was debated on February 24th and indefinably postponed on a 24-9 vote.
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General Affairs
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2017 Upcoming Hearings
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Hearing Date
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Bill Number
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Introducer
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Committee
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On Liner
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2/27/2017
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LB354
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Kolowski
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Business & Labor
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Adopt the Wage Disclosure Act. If passed, the bill would not allow employers or potential employers to request or require previous job salaries in order to prevent discrimination based upon salary history and continued wage discrimination that may be based upon gender or race.
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2/27/2017
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LB462
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Smith
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Revenue
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Correct provisions relating to the streamlined sales and use tax agreement
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2/27/2017
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LB471
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Kolowski
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Transportation
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Provide for enforcement of the prohibition against using a handheld wireless communication device as a primary action
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2/27/2017
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LB211
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Hansen
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Business & Labor
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Change the minimum wage for persons compensated by way of gratuities
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2/28/2017
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LB629
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Larson
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Transportation
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Exempt certain commercial driver's license holders from hazardous waste endorsement requirements. The bill would adopt similar provisions in the FAST Act, which would waive the requirement for a holder of a Class A CDL to obtain a hazardous materials endorsement to transport 1,000 gallons or less of diesel fuel, when a person Is acting within the scope of his or her employment as an employee of a custom harvester operation, agrichemical business, farm retail outlet and supplier, or livestock feeder.
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3/2/2017
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LB400
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Hilkemann
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Revenue
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Change provisions relating to motor vehicle fees and taxes. Allows for a refund of fee/taxes upon the transfer of ownership of any motor vehicle or trailer based on the number of unexpired days remaining in the registration period from the date of the event.
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3/3/2017
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LB545
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Watermeier
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Appropriations
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Provide for fund transfers relating to the Property Tax Credit Cash Fund. Transfers from the general fund to the property tax relief fund to eventually maintain a funding level of $480 million.
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3/13/2017
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LB473
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Walz
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Business & Labor
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Require rest periods for employees. Requires a fifteen-minute break period for every four hours worked, not including a lunch break period.
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Bills of Interest
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GEORGE L. WATTERS SCHOLARSHIP
SHARE WITH EMPLOYEES
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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.
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This week, PMAA filed comments asking the Pipeline Hazardous Material and Safety Administration (PHMSA) to restore a recently removed cargo tank placarding provision important to petroleum marketers. Specifically, the provision allowed marketers to permanently attach a UN 1203 placard to cargo tanks for alternating loads of diesel fuel and gasoline rather than having to continually change placards between runs. The 1203 placarding provision stood for 35 years until PHMSA issued an interpretive letter in 2015 that limited permanent 1203 placards to straight loads of gasoline or split loads of gasoline and diesel fuel stored in separate compartments of the same load. In November 2015, PMAA petitioned the agency to undertake a rulemaking to restore the ability to placard to 1203 provision.
Unfortunately, PHMSA failed to act on the petition for over a year until PMAA successfully lobbied Congress for legislation requiring the agency to initiate a rulemaking within 90 days. PHMSA expressed concerns in its 2015 interpretive letter for the safety of emergency responders because gasoline with ethanol blends over 10 percent required a different placard and emergency response procedures than E10 blends. PMAA told PHMSA in written comments that placarding alternating straight loads of diesel fuel and gasoline with the UN 1203 placard does not pose any danger to public safety because emergency response methods for both are identical under Emergency Response Guide 128. PMAA also explained that mid-level ethanol grades are blended at the pump and not typically transported in cargo tank trucks so there was no need to remove the 1203 placarding provision based on concerns over alcohol content. PMAA told PHMSA it supports limiting the 1203 placarding provision to a maximum E10 blend to neutralize concerns over mid-level ethanol blends. PMAA plans to meet with PHMSA on this issue in the near future.
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PMAA submitted comments this week on a petition for rulemaking that would move obligated party status under the RFS program from refiners and importers to
position holders
at the terminal rack. Blenders below the rack would not be affected by the proposed move in obligated party status. Valero filed the petition to move the point of obligation due to the increasing economic burden placed on obligated parties (currently refiners and importers) from high RIN values. Please note that any regulatory action that follows as a result of a petition for rulemaking would still need to go through the formal notice and comment period rulemaking requirements. In other words, even if EPA grants the petition for rulemaking, moving the point of obligation to the position holder will still need to go through the formal rulemaking process, and therefore, PMAA will have another chance to comment on the proposal.
PMAA has long supported identifying refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel fuel as the entities responsible for complying with annual volumetric blending obligations mandated under the RFS. PMAA recently reiterated its support for keeping the point of obligation with refiners and importers in a joint industry letter sent to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in November 2016.
However, on Wednesday, PMAA told the EPA in written comments of its growing concern that keeping the point of obligation with refiners and importers may be creating downstream market conditions that prevent small business retailers from competing on a level playing field with their larger unbranded competitors. Click
here
for a video explaining why moving the point of obligation to the position holder at the rack will benefit petroleum marketers. Click
here
for arguments against moving the point of obligation to the position holder at the rack. PMAA believes that inflated value of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINS) due to annual increases in the renewable fuel obligation is driving much of the downstream market distortion. Still, PMAA said it was not entirely convinced that moving the point of obligation to position holders would solve the inequities that are manifest under the current RFS regulatory framework. Consequently, PMAA told the EPA it has decided to take a neutral position on where the point of obligation should be set under the RFS. PMAA will continue to review this issue at our
Washington, DC Conference, May 17-19th.
PMAA will also continue to pursue a cap on the maximum amount of ethanol blended into gasoline at 9.7 percent. PMAA believes that capping the ethanol mandate at this level is the most effective way to lower the value of RINS and, in turn, allow small business retailers to compete on a level playing field.
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On Tuesday, California PMAA Director and Western Region Chair Jimm Cross of Cross Petroleum represented PMAA at the 2017 National Ethanol Conference in San Diego, CA. Jimm was part of a panel which included Ryan McNutt, CEO, SIGMA; John Eichberger, Executive Director, Fuels Institute and Rick Long, General Manager & Associate General Counsel, PEI.
During his presentation, Jimm stated that PMAA supports the use of ethanol in our nation's fuel supply but has concerns with the difficulty/inability to certify existing retail infrastructure compatibility with blends above E10. He also argued on behalf of petroleum marketers that believe the ethanol mandate is set too high and that there are concerns with UST compatibility issues and the costs associated with retrofitting current UST sites. He added that the inability to recertify existing equipment is an impediment to E15 because federal, state, and local laws and regulations, national and international fire codes, as well as all commercial insurance policies, require the use of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certified storage and dispensing equipment or specific documentation proving the equipment is compatible.
He also added that PMAA supported a bill last year known as "The Food and Fuel Consumer Protection Act" which caps the max amount of ethanol blended into the gasoline supply at 9.7 percent. Reducing the ethanol mandate will reduce RIN values which will level the playing field in the retail motor fuels marketplace. Passage of the bill will allow marketers to support ethanol use while not jeopardizing their businesses.
On behalf of PMAA and petroleum marketers across the country, we thank Jimm for his outstanding representation.
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Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that he wants to see very significant tax reform passed before Congress' August recess. However, Congress is working through a complex agenda and many of the primary tax policy writers believe the House will not complete a bill until next year.
President Trump has promised to detail a tax plan in the coming weeks. He has not stated whether it is a version of his proposal outlined during the campaign or if it will resemble the House Republicans' plan. Secretary Mnuchin said the Trump administration is "primarily focused on a middle-income tax cut and a simplification for business" which he said is "key to boosting economic growth to 3% annually or higher." He also stated that the administration has looked at the border adjustment tax and is aware of some of the concerns with it. The border adjustment tax is a key provision of the House Republican tax plan which would tax imports and eliminate the tax on exports.
Throughout the tax reform debate, PMAA will continue to weigh in on provisions that are particularly important to petroleum marketers such as the estate tax and LIFO. PMAA is still reviewing the border adjustment tax and will have additional information at a later date on how it will impact petroleum marketers.
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Good Reasons to Have a Drug- and Alcohol-Free Workplace Program.
In its simplest form, managed care describes a variety of techniques that, when properly deployed, can help support an effective risk management program. These strategies can be most effective when they concentrate on both injury prevention and post-injury techniques.
Testing May Equal Savings
One effective managed care strategy is a drug-free workplace program
, which, when used where appropriate, often includes pre-employment, random, or post-incident drug testing
. An appropriately utilized and compliant program can help monitor and prevent drug and alcohol use. A drug-free workplace program can also offer benefits over and above its initial intent.
Please click
here
for the four risk management metrics. 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.
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Showing we care through Shamrocks Against Dystrophy
In today's competitive marketplace it's important to differentiate your brand. Think service, programs, products or some other unique advantage that separates your brand from the rest. As the most human, caring oil company, CITGO shows it every day through our commitment to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
The CITGO/MDA partnership is going on 31 years and more than $200MM and counting. In fact, funds raised through our marketers, retailers and employees contributed to the underlying research on two major drugs that recently hit the market.
One of the ways we raise these funds is through the annual Shamrocks Against Dystrophy, which is set to kick off in March. Retailers simply sell green, gold and platinum shamrocks and proudly display them in their stores. CITGO further incentivizes its marketers and retailers by awarding monetary prizes to store managers and employees.
Supporting MDA is definitely a worthy cause, as thousands of people are waiting for a cure and a chance to live a better life. Show you care today by selling and/or purchasing shamrocks for MDA.
For additional information about CITGO, please
visit or contact
Alan Flagg.
CITGO Petroleum is a PMAA Corporate Gold Partner.
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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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