When President Obama signed the health-care reform bill into law this week, he officially created a menu-labeling standard that requires chains with 20 or more locations to post calories on their menu boards. This provision was included in the prevention and nutrition section of the law. Foodservice establishments, including convenience stores, will need to provide caloric information on their menus and menu boards and provide in written form additional nutrition information. Also individual items for sale at a salad bar, at a beverage dispenser or in a display case will need to be individually tagged.

Rulemaking begins this summer and NACS is working to make sure the FDA takes into account the unique format of foodservice offerings at convenience stores.

NACS Staff Contact: Julie Fields

Health Care Can Be Confusing
Congressional attention this week on health-care reform is just about over. Here is a breakdown of what??s been going on:

• Senate passed H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on December 24, 2009
• House passed H.R. 3590 and H.R. 4782, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation bill on March 21, 2010
• President Obama signed H.R. 3590 into law on March 23
• Senate passed the Reconciliation bill (H.R. 4782) with a few changes and sent it back to the House on March 25
• The House passed the changes to the reconciliation bill last night and the final version heads to the President for his signature.
• The reconciliation bill makes changes to the law that the president signed this week. The changes are concessions made between House and Senate Democrats in order to gain votes.

Now the real work begins - figuring out exactly what the law will do and what provisions take effect when. For a detailed summary of the two bills, see today??s NACS Daily story. NACS is working on a compliance document that will explain the new requirements of the law and the legal details of the changes that businesses will have to make.

NACS Staff Contact: Julie Fields

Vermont Takes Action on Unfair Credit Card Swipe Fees
This week the Vermont State Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would give retailers and customers a break on credit card swipe fees. Vermont is the first state to address the issue.

Lyle Beckwith, NACS senior vice president of government relations, said: "The credit card companies and big banks are spending millions of dollars trying to protect their swipe fee cash cow, and it??s no surprise, since they rake in billions of dollars every year off merchants and our customers in these fees. Thank you to the sponsors of S. 138 and the Judiciary Committee for standing up to their massive lobbying effort and doing the right thing for the businesses and consumers who make up the backbone of Vermont??s economy."

NACS Staff Contact: Lyle Beckwith

NACS to EPA: Eliminate Stage II Vapor Recovery Requirements
In January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed regulations to tighten the standards controlling ozone emissions into the atmosphere. This proposal is expected to push a significant number of counties into an environmental designation of severe non-attainment with ozone standards. The implications for petroleum retailers could be significant: Severe non-attainment designations trigger a requirement that retailers install stationary Stage II Vapor Recovery Equipment ?" a project that can cost a retailer more than $50,000 per location.

In comments filed this week, NACS called upon EPA to take action to eliminate this requirement. The Clean Air Act provides for removal of the Stage II program once vehicles that are equipped with onboard vapor recovery systems are in "widespread use." The definition of "widespread use" is left to the discretion of EPA, which has not yet finalized this definition. Consequently, Stage II remains in effect even though the overwhelming majority of vehicles in the country are equipped with onboard systems. In fact, onboard systems were required to be phased-in to the vehicle pool beginning with 40% of vehicles manufactured in 1998 and 100% of vehicles manufactured in 2000.

NACS Joins Call for Commodities Oversight Reform
Yesterday, NACS joined the Commodities Markets Oversight Coalition (CMOC) in a letter (PDF) to Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry chairman and ranking member, respectively, commending them for their work on legislation to reform the derivatives markets, and calling on them to include specific provisions to protect commodities markets from excessive speculation and abuse. NACS and coalition members are concerned that federal regulations governing the commodities futures markets have not kept pace with the changing behavior of investors in these markets over the years.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will be preparing its own commodities provisions before the larger financial services reform bill is brought to the Senate for a vote. In anticipation of the committee??s action on this topic, NACS and CMOC asked the senators to include in their legislation the following provisions:

• Mandatory exchange trading for standardized derivatives contracts to ensure adequate transparency and federal oversight, and to reduce systemic risk.
• Mandatory clearing requirements for all other contracts that are not being utilized by bona-fide commercial hedging interests to manage risks, but rather by swap dealers, banks, or other purely financial market participants.
• A narrow end-user exemption to clearing and collateral requirements that will allow bona-fide non-financial hedgers continued flexibility and choice in hedging products; however this exemption should be written so as to avoid any new "loophole" to truly non-physical market participants.
• Additional authorities to the CFTC to establish speculative limits on all markets and in the aggregate across all markets, and to access activity on foreign boards of trade that allow U.S. access or that trade derivatives on commodities destined for U.S. delivery.
• New enforcement authorities to the CFTC so regulators may prosecute "reckless" manipulation in the same manner as its sister-agency the SEC.
• Additional financial and personnel resources should also be afforded federal regulators in order to implement and enforce new mandates and authorities.

NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger

Obama Rumored To Make NLRB Recess Appointment
A recess appointment occurs when the president bypasses the normal Senate process for nominating an individual to an appointed position in the administration. The Senate has already blocked the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which governs labor and union issues. The board consists of five spots and only two are currently occupied, leading to a delay of hundreds of cases because they must have a quorum of three. Becker has been a controversial nomination because he is the lawyer for the powerful union group, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Senate Republicans wrote to Obama asking him not to make the temporary appointment. If Obama moves forward, Becker would have a seat on the NLRB for one year before facing a vote in the Senate.