Quick Links to Articles for April 3, 2020

SBLC Webinar on CARES Act Next Tuesday at 12pm Eastern 

IRS Offers Employee Retention Tax Credit to Qualifying Businesses

EPA Issues Temporary Nationwide Waiver for Summertime RVP/RFG Gasoline 

CISA Further Clarifies Essential Workforce Guidance

EPA Rolls Back Fuel Efficiency Standards for Cars, Pick-up Trucks AND SUVs

FDA Asks for Delay in PMTA Deadline

Visa and Mastercard to Delay Fee Increases Due to COVID-19

Senators Demand LIHEAP Funding Be Released

PMAA Corporate Gold Partner Spotlight Introducing: Sound Payments Petro Solutions

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Treasury Department have released information on loan programs to assist small businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak. These programs, known as the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, are available to petroleum marketers with 500 or fewer employees. 

The application process for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) begins today. It is possible banks could start accepting applications today, but full implementation is unlikely to happen until next week. PMAA encourages small business petroleum marketers to fill out the borrowers’ application and be prepared to consult with their local lender as to whether it is participating in the program as soon as possible. 

1. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

   • A top-line overview of the program can be found here

   • More information for borrowers can be found here

   • Final application for borrowers can be found here **

   • A PPP participating lender can be found here  
     
     ** This is an updated version and applicants should use it to avoid unnecessary delays

2. Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programr>
   Additionally, the Small Business Administration has also made available an application for its Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. The EIDL program will help small businesses recover from broader economic injury related to the outbreak. 

   • The EIDL program application can be found here

   • More information about the EIDL program is available here

The Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC) is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, April 7, at 12pm Eastern. This live webinar will be open to all PMAA state associations and its members, free of charge. The webinar will review the provisions of the new Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which are most important for you to know about now with a special emphasis on the Paycheck Protection Program. Please enter “PMAA” when asked “What Association Invited You?” Click here to register now! 

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service launched the Employee Retention Credit, designed to encourage businesses to keep employees on their payroll. The refundable tax credit is 50% of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an eligible employer whose business has been financially impacted by COVID-19. The credit is available to marketers who are continuing to pay employees during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Click here to view the full PMAA Regulatory Report.

The EPA recently issued a temporary nationwide waiver of both the RFG and summertime RVP blend requirements. The waiver moves the RVP and RFG transition deadline for refiners and terminal operators to May 20, 2020. The waiver is important to petroleum marketers because it will enable them to turnover gasoline tanks to summertime RVP and RFG in a more realistic time frame given the precipitous drop in consumer demand since the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Click here to view the full PMAA Regulatory Report.

Over last weekend, PMAA was successful in getting key amendments to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) critical infrastructure workforce list that identifies essential employees who are vital to maintaining the nation’s goods and services distribution network during the coronavirus outbreak. 

The DHS guidance is important to petroleum marketers and heating fuel dealers because it contains recommendations for state governors to follow when deciding which businesses can stay open and operating during quarantines and other limitations of movement imposed to prevent the spread of the corona virus.

Specifically, the DHS at PMAA’s request broadened the Petroleum Industry category in the guidance to include workers involved in the downstream distribution of gasoline, diesel fuel, heating fuels and jet fuels as well as HVAC technicians for residential and commercial heating systems. These specific listings clarify that petroleum marketers and heating fuel businesses are essential operations that need to remain open and operating despite the imposition of any federal, state or local emergency lockdown or quarantine orders. Click here for the DHS CISA essential workforce guidance. 

PMAA has also developed two essential employee identification templates for petroleum marketers and heating fuel dealers to use if stopped by enforcement authorities in a locked down or restricted area. Click on the following links to download the templates:

• Petroleum Marketer Essential Employee Identification Template

• Heating Fuel Dealer Essential Employee Identification Template

The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a final rule this week that makes significant reductions in current federal mileage standards for cars, pick-up trucks and SUVs. The Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles rule is important to petroleum marketers because federal fuel efficiency standards have a direct impact on consumer demand for transportation fuels. 

Under the final rule, automakers are now required to improve average fuel efficiency by only 1.5 percent per year between model years 2021 and 2026, far below from the 5 percent annual improvement rate required over the same period under current efficiency standards. The lower improvement rate translates into an average fleetwide mileage standard of 40.4 mpg as opposed to 46.7 mpg under the 5% rate. The 1.5% improvement requirement matches auto manufacturers historic efficiency rate achieved by voluntary technological advancements.

Auto manufacturers are split over support for the new less stringent standards. Those who oppose are concerned that if California wins its lawsuit to maintain authority to impose more stringent efficiency standards, including, zero emission and electric vehicle mandates, auto manufacturers will be forced to build cars according to two widely different fuel efficiency standards. Opponents also include governors from 23 states who plan to challenge the new rule in court, including 13 governors representing states that have already signed onto California fuel efficiency and zero emission standards. Finally, the final rule does not extend extra MPG credit automakers can earn for selling zero-emission electric vehicles.

This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to a federal judge asking that the deadline to submit a Pre-Market Tobacco Application (PMTA) be pushed back 120 days, from May 12 to September 9, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The letter states, “The global coronavirus outbreak poses unforeseen challenges and has made the May 12 deadline a public health risk to those who cannot comply with the deadline through telework. As a result of the outbreak, many laboratories and contract research organizations, which perform required laboratory and clinical studies for manufacturers’ premarket applications, have shut down or suspended in-person work indefinitely.”

Last year, that same federal judge ruled that the FDA must require submission of PMTA’s for premarket review by May 12, 2020, for deemed new tobacco products on the market as of August 8, 2016. Tobacco products that were first introduced into the marketplace or modified after February 15, 2007, also known as the predicate date, must submit PMTA’s for the FDA to review and approve. PMTA’s require a product to meet a regulatory hurdle that can be complex and costly. 

Due to the detrimental effects that COVID-19 has put on businesses including gas stations and convenience stores, Visa and Mastercard have decided to delay certain interchange fee increases for businesses that were originally going to take effect this month until July 2020. The virus has forced many people to shelter at home, leading many retail stores to shut down temporarily or permanently.

In a letter to the CEO’s of Visa and Mastercard, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) said that “Now is not the time for further interchange fee increases” and also stated that the companies’ “fee rates are already too high.” Click here to view the letter. 

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, a bipartisan group of 28 senators urged the Trump Administration to quickly release $900 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding that Congress included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. 

In the letter, the Senators wrote that “LIHEAP assistance is an indispensable lifeline, helping to ensure that recipients do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording other necessities like food and medicine.” Click here to read the letter. 

The Officers, Executive Committee, and PMAA staff are pleased to welcome PMAA’s newest Corporate Gold Partner: Sound Payments Petro Solutions.

We know that the current economic environment presents challenges for stations nationwide, which is why it is even more paramount to evaluate upgrade options to support EMV at the pump. Join us for a webinar to learn how an upgrade can be simple and cost-effective while supporting social distancing guidelines and promoting fewer touch points – Enabling EMV at the Pump with a Retrofit Solution -- on April 15 at 2:00 pm ET to learn more about how a retrofit solution works to enable EMV at the Pump. Join us – from a distance -- Register today for our webinar!

Sound Payments Petro Solutions cost-effectively solves EMV at the pump with EMV Easy Pump™, a retrofit, semi-integrated payment solution that supports contactless via card tap or NFC (Apple Pay, WeChat Pay, Ali Pay), QR code scanning, PIN-on-glass, MSR, and EMV chip and PIN.

EMV Easy Pump™ is easy to install with only one power cord and eliminates the need to purchase new pumps and close stations for installation. The direct-to-processor transaction connection uses point-to-point encryption so it is more secure and will eliminate many types of fraud that are common today. In addition, the platform is flexible so it can easily support future innovations.

For more information, please visit.