Bill Text: NJ A2196 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires signs posted by retail motor fuel dealers to indicate motor fuel prices for cash and credit card customers; establishes new penalties for violations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee [A2196 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A2196-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires signs posted by retail motor fuel dealers to indicate motor fuel prices for cash and credit card customers; establishes new penalties for violations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the display of prices by retail motor fuel dealers and amending P.L.1952, c.258.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1952, c.258 (C.56:6-2.3) is amended to read as follows:
3. No retail dealer shall sell or offer for sale any motor fuel without having a. attached by a suitable bracket or slot arrangement in a manner regulated by the Director of the Division of Taxation to each pump or other dispensing equipment from which motor fuel is sold or offered for sale a weather-proof case of such dimensions as shall be prescribed by the director, or b. displayed by a sign or signs located on the premises and visible from any adjacent roadway in a manner and of such dimensions as shall be prescribed by the director, or c. both, as the director may prescribe, stating the price per gallon, or the price per gallon and per liter, at which motor fuel may be purchased from such pumps or other dispensing equipment. The price signs shall show the unit price per gallon, or if sold by the liter the unit price per gallon and the unit price per liter. If sold by the liter, the price per gallon shall be located on the top half of the sign and the price per liter shall be located on the bottom half of the sign on differing background colors, such colors to be designated by the director. Such unit price shall include all taxes imposed, whether State or Federal. Beneath the unit price there shall be either the statement:
"Includes N.J.Tax -- (insert the tax per gallon) (insert the tax per gallon) Federal Tax," "Includes State and Federal Taxes," "Includes N.J. and U.S. Taxes," or "Includes all Taxes."
The colors of all price signs shall be of such combination that the sign may be easily read by any person purchasing motor fuel from the pump or other dispensing equipment to which the sign is attached. Any figure or fraction used in any price computing mechanism constituting a part of a computing pump or any other dispensing equipment shall not be considered a price sign under the provisions of this section.
Price signs displayed in accordance with the provisions of subsection b. of this section shall include the price per gallon, or the price per gallon and per liter, for both cash and credit card purchases of motor fuel. In addition to the penalties provided in section 301 of P.L.1938, c.163 (C.56:6-3), a retail dealer violating the provisions of this paragraph shall be liable for a penalty of $5,000 for each violation.
(cf: P.L.1981, c.230, s.4)
2. This act shall take effect on the 120th day following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that price signs posted by a retail motor fuel dealer on the dealer's premises and visible from any adjacent roadway shall include the price per gallon, or the price per gallon and per liter, for both cash and credit card purchases of motor fuel in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Director of the Division of Taxation. A retail motor fuel dealer who violates the provisions of this bill is also liable for a penalty of $5,000 for each violation, which is in addition to the penalties currently provided pursuant to section 301 of P.L.1938, c.163 (C.56:6-3).
Current regulations recognize that retail motor fuel dealers are permitted in New Jersey to establish one price for the sale of motor fuel to their credit card customers and a separate lower price to cash customers, provided the discount approximates the economic value to the retailer of providing the discount to its cash customers.
