Despite what could accurately be described as an often chaotic year on Capitol Hill, 2024 was a productive one for the convenience retailing industry. NACS and our members made significant progress on key industry issues during the year.
We advanced important legislation, impacted key regulatory activity, saw NACS members and staff testify before Congress and won some important court decisions during those 12 months.
Testifying on Behalf of the Industry
During the second week of April, Ray Huff, NACS board member and president of HJB Convenience, came to Washington to testify before the House Small Business Committee on the impact on his business of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, particularly focusing on the business income deduction for pass-through entities.
That same week, NACS board members Don Rhoads, president/CEO of the Convenience Group LLC, and Annie Gauthier, CFO/Co-CEO of St. Romain Oil Company, joined NACS staff in a virtual meeting with staff from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to discuss the potential impact of the DOL’s proposed overtime rule. They informed the government staff about how the proposal would negatively impact the very workers the agency sought to help and the businesses that employ them. More on that overtime rule later in the article.
In November, Doug Kantor, NACS general counsel, was invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the benefits of the Credit Card Competition Act. Kantor testified alongside senior executives from Visa and Mastercard, as well as the owner of a small bookstore in New York and a law professor from the University of Notre Dame. Kantor also testified earlier in the year before a state study committee in Georgia on why that state should prohibit swipe fees on sales taxes.
Legislative Achievements
NACS saw significant progress and wins on important legislation as well. Much of that success was driven by the strength of our industry’s grassroots efforts. During the year, industry advocates sent over 14,000 messages to Capitol Hill on issues that impact convenience retailers, like swipe fees, taxes and SNAP. Nearly 200 advocates came to Washington, D.C., in March for Day on the Hill, attending over 200 meetings with legislators and staff. NACS also hosted 11 NACS In Store events, bringing members of Congress into their local convenience store for a behind-the-scenes tour and a chance to assist customers from behind the counter. Without these strong grassroots efforts, many of the industry’s legislative accomplishments may not have been possible.
Support for the Credit Card Competition Act grew in 2024, adding two new bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate and one new co-sponsor in the House. As previously mentioned, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an important hearing on the issue, highlighting how the Credit Card Competition Act would deliver much-needed relief to Main Street businesses and their customers. These developments, along with the strong grassroots efforts in support of the CCCA, have provided momentum to the effort in the new Congress.
Our industry also overcame resistance to legislation allowing for the year-round sale of E15 fuel. Such legislation was included in the original end-of-year agreement before President Trump and his allies derailed that legislation for unrelated reasons. We also saw legislation introduced to extend the biodiesel blender’s tax credit by one year. We saw 12 additional bipartisan co-sponsors join the Hot Foods Act and secured bipartisan support for the legislation during the House Farm Bill mark up. Language was secured in the Agriculture Appropriations Bill to delay the FDA’s burdensome Food Traceability Rule, and legislation was also introduced that would exempt retailers from the rule’s requirements.
We also helped move legislation through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to create a pilot program to test raising trucking weight limits to help alleviate supply chain issues. Language was also secured in the agriculture funding bill which would have prevented the FDA from moving forward on efforts to ban menthol cigarettes and limit nicotine content in cigarettes, as well as require that agency to provide lists of which vapor products retailers can and cannot sell.
Harmful legislation was also stopped through industry efforts, as we halted legislation that would have allowed electric vehicle chargers at rest areas. Legislation was also blocked that would have created pilot programs to test restricting what SNAP customers could purchase with their SNAP benefits. In large part due to NACS grassroots and grass tops efforts, legislation was also blocked that would have instituted 2016-era SNAP stocking requirements for small-format retailers, which would have essentially removed all c-stores from the program. Legislative efforts to impose new privacy and data security laws that would have created significant new liabilities for Main Street businesses were stopped as well.
Regulatory and Legal Wins
The industry saw some wins at the regulatory level as well during 2024. Notably, the industry successfully urged DOJ to take action against Visa for its anticompetitive practices. Additionally, an emergency waiver from EPA allowing the sale of E15 fuel was obtained for the summer months, as were waivers of hours of service and vehicle weight limit restrictions, which aided in the recovery from multiple hurricanes. Industry representatives mobilized to block an effort to have the National Fire Protection Association pass emergency standards limiting the ability to install EV charging stations at motor fuel outlets.
Finally, our industry was also very successful in court in 2024. As a result of a significant grassroots letter campaign, the judge overseeing the woefully insufficient Visa-Mastercard swipe fee settlement rejected the proposal. In the judge’s written opinion, she noted many of the comment letters from our members. NACS was also a direct party to legal challenges that invalidated both the previously mentioned DOL overtime rule and the National Labor Relations Board’s joint-employer rule. Both regulations would have been harmful to the industry. NACS also filed an amicus brief on behalf of our members in support of NFIB’s lawsuit challenging the Beneficial Ownership Information Disclosure Requirements in the Corporate Transparency Act. After some back and forth, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a nationwide injunction against that rule in December. The U.S. Supreme Court also granted the petition filed by NACS and its coalition partners in a case challenging the EPA’s grant of a waiver to California for its Advanced Clean Cars Rule.
NACSPAC
In addition to the wins noted above, NACSPAC had a banner year in 2024 as well. NACSPAC donors contributed a record amount of $810,373, which is used to support candidates for federal office who are supportive of our industry.
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None of the above could have been accomplished without the active participation of the individuals who make up this industry. Our true influence in Washington is derived from you, the people who work and run the stores that make up the convenience retailing industry and our supplier partners. The most impactful number in the preceding article is the 14,326 messages sent to Capitol Hill during 2024. When you make your voice directly heard in Washington, it has a truly significant impact. The NACS government relations team would like to thank all those who responded to calls to action last year and encourage everyone reading this to respond to future calls to action that will be sent out during the coming months. With your support we can accomplish just as much, if not more, in 2025.