Marketplace Fairness
NJEMG strongly believes in a free and fair marketplace in which honest businesses compete. All businesses should comply with all state and federal laws. Those that break the law give themselves a competitive advantage over those that don’t, and our association will always stand with those following the rules. It also makes the entire industry look bad and untrustworthy.
If you believe a competitor is breaking any our laws, like selling fuel below cost, selling regular gas as premium, or selling unbranded as branded, then contact us and we will report the violation on your behalf to our contacts in the State. You should not have to suffer because someone else is cheating!
Below Cost Selling
This association was founded in 1937, and in 1938 the New Jersey Legislature passed the Unfair Motor Fuel Practices Act. At its core was a ban on the sale of motor fuel below its cost, plus all selling expenses. Unfortunately, a judge later ruled not to enforce the “all selling expenses” portion of the law.
This ban is absolutely essential to maintaining a functioning marketplace in the state. Any elimination of this protection would allow big box chains to undercut smaller retailers and force these independent businesses to close down. Once the competition is eliminated, these chains would be able to dramatically increase gasoline prices on the consumer.
NJEMG supports legislation that would provide a reasonable definition for “selling expenses” in the law, thereby requiring all stations to sell fuel for a minimum of what they paid for it plus a small markup to cover their legitimate expenses.
Red Tape
Its hard enough to keep your own business running and your employees employed. The government should not be making it harder by piling rule after rule about every aspect of how your business is run. Too many bills in Trenton are introduced to ban an annoyance, or in response to an out of context news article. Some of these become law, and they pile up year after year making it ever more challenging to keep a small business operational. Red tape can also tilt the economy toward big corporations, who have the resources to hire more people and comply with burdensome regulations, while independent operators have to make it work themselves. While some laws and regulations are necessary for the functioning of society, we will always guard against and push back against abuses and excessive mandates.
Labor Laws
We believe that generally, employers and employees should negotiate together on what is mutually beneficial for them, without the government forcing excessive costs and burdens on businesses that tilt the scales unfairly. The Legislature is constantly pushing more and more mandates on this front in particular that we regularly push back against.
Minimum wage—NJEMG opposed the $15 minimum as well as the automatic increases, and delayed their enactment by several years. We oppose further efforts to increase this mandate higher.
Paid Family Leave Mandate expansion--All employees and employers pay a payroll tax that allows an employee to take up to 12 weeks of paid time off (paid by the State) for certain reasons, such as the birth of a child or to take care of a sick relative. If a business has 15 or more employees, they are required to bring back that employee when the leave is over, in the same job for the same pay and hours. Businesses with fewer than 30 employees do not have to bring the employee back if they don’t want to. It’s hard enough to find good help, especially trained repair techs. Now imagine if you find one you have to tell them that no matter what, you are legally mandated to fire them in 12 weeks when the employee on leave returns, since you can’t afford to increase your overall headcount permanently. If during the time the employee was on leave, you realized that maybe you didn’t need them, or that it should be a part-time position, you would be unable to make that change since you could be sued for discrimination and damages. When this program first became law, businesses with under 50 employees were exempt from the return to work mandate. That was lowered to 35, and recently lowered to 15 (effective July 2026). Advocates are pushing for it to be lowered, either to 5 employees or eliminated altogether. We have pushed back against this expansion, and forced compromises that have kept it as high as it is.
Heat stress standards—we oppose a complex set of proposed regulations that would fall on all stations and repair shops, and really any business where employees are exposed to the outside for any reason, or inside temperatures above 80 degrees. Employers would have to monitor and keep records of the temperature at any work environment, and provide paid rest breaks on a frequent basis (likely 15 minutes every 2 hours) whenever heat is “excessive” (85 degrees).
Scheduling Mandates—we oppose legislation that would add a variety of restrictions related to how employers can schedule their workers, including rules that would mandate they be paid for a minimum amount of hours even if they didn’t work them, to provide full schedules well in advance and pay a penalty for any scheduling changes, and to provide partial pay for being on-call and not working.
Right to Repair
With modern cars ever more complex, independent repairers increasingly need access to special codes to finish fixing their customers’ cars. Right to Repair would require that auto manufacturers offer access to these diagnostic and repair codes to vehicle owners and their chosen repair shops. Manufacturers would rather use their market power to funnel repairs back to their dealerships, cutting small business out of the process. This association was instrumental in getting a national Memorandum of Understanding signed 2014 providing some access, however in recent years telematics technology has been undermining that access. We support legislation to require access.
Safety Inspections
New Jersey required every passenger vehicle undergo a safety inspection to ensure it was in compliance with all state laws and not a road hazard—to the driver's safety and to everyone else on the road. This requirement was eliminated in 2010, and in the years since repairers have noted that many of the cars motorists bring in for repairs are poorly maintained and not road safe, particularly tires. When the State required a regular inspection, and the repairer could point out that the motorist would not get their inspection center without a needed repair, it provided a powerful incentive for compliance. We support bringing back this requirement in some form.
Private Inspections
In almost all states in the US, motor vehicle inspections are performed entirely at independent repair shops. While NJ allows private shops to become inspectors, only about 12% of all inspection are performed by these businesses, with the rest going to State owned “central” lanes, where the cost is covered by MVC. We believe that the State should adopt the model found everywhere else and save the taxpayer money, while helping small businesses.
Workforce Development
For years there has been a shortage of trained auto repair technicians, despite the fact that it can be a reliable, well-paying job. When the State talks about workforce development, too often they are focused on training for Big Tech or Pharma jobs, and not enough on jobs that don’t require a college degree. We support having the State do more to promote new entrants into the field.
Lottery
For half a century, the lottery has been a cornerstone for small businesses like convenience stores across our state. We oppose all efforts by the State to sell lottery tickets directly without the involvement of a private business, as they have proposed to do. We also support a long overdue increase in the commissions paid to retailers.
Self-Serve
NJEMG supports legalizing the option of self-serve gas in the state of New Jersey. We have strongly supported the Motorist Fueling Choice and Convenience Act, which would allow those motorists who would like to the freedom to pump their own gas, and require that larger stations (with 5+ gas dispensers) offer full-serve.
Liquor License Reform
We strongly support legislation that would bring New Jersey's laws in line with most other states and allow responsible convenience stores to offer their customers beer and wine products. Legislation we have supported would even require a portion of the products being sold be from NJ craft brewers. 80% of the nation's c-stores sell beer, its long past time NJ joined them.
