A "No" Vote on Rest Area Commercialization

U.S. Senate upholds the federal law prohibiting the sale of food and fuel from Interstate rest areas.

March 14, 2012

Washington, D.C. ?" On Tuesday, the Senate voted 86 to 12 against Amendment #1742 of the highway bill, proposed by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), thereby upholding the longstanding federal law that prohibits the sale of food, fuel and other convenience items from Interstate rest areas.

"This marks a major victory for convenience stores, restaurants and truck stops that operate around our nation??s highways," said Corey Fitze, NACS director of government affairs. "This veto sends a clear message that state DOTs [Department of Transportation] cannot fix their state budget problems on the backs of small businesses or at the expense of American jobs and local communities."

More than 60 organizations opposed Amendment #1742, which would have allowed state governments to set up shop along the Interstate right-of-way, giving states a major advantage over the travel plazas, truck stops, gas stations, convenience stores and restaurants at the exit interchanges.

In addition, many NACS members took action on this issue by contacting their senators via phone, fax and emails through the NACS Grassroots website. Together, through the NACS site and state association portals, we generated more than 1,050 emails in opposition to the amendment. Thank you to all those who stood with us in support of this issue.

Portman's amendment threatened nearly 97,000 small businesses operating within a quarter mile of the Interstate Highway System, endangering the jobs of more than 2 million Americans. Passage of the amendment would have transferred a significant amount of sales away from the existing competitive environment at highway exits ?" to such a degree that many of these exit-based businesses could not have survived.

NACS is a founding member of The Partnership to Save Highway Communities, the coalition that spearheaded the lobbying effort against the amendment.

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