(The Hill) – Lawmakers in the only two states that prevent residents from filling up their own gasoline at gas stations are considering revising their decade-long rules in the face of a nationwide labor shortage that has led to long queues at gas stations.
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In recent weeks, new bills have been passed in Oregon and New Jersey that would allow motorists to self-refuel after years of inactivity in the midst of behind-the-scenes disputes between powerful special interest groups.
In both states, the bills will create a hybrid system: service stations will still be required to offer full service options, but will also be allowed to offer self-service options for drivers who want to refuel their fuel.
The sponsors of both bills say it’s time for the two states to enter the modern era, where advances in safety make it harder for a car to be misused.
“It’s time. It’s only been 73 years, let’s pull ourselves together,” said New Jersey Assemblyman Edward Thomson, the Republican leader and one of the two main sponsors of the bill, along with Democrat Carol Murphy. “Every other state has it “It’s not a safety issue. The new pumps are as safe as can be.”
The new push for self-service comes at a time when labor shortages are affecting much of the economy, especially low-wage jobs like gas stations that charge you to fill up your car. In Oregon, where the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the unemployment rate at just 4.2 percent, a shortage of workers has led to pumping stations closing and long lines of parked cars.
“When we pull up to a gas station right now, half the pumps are closed and there are garbage cans or cones in front of them,” said Oregon Rep. Shelley Boshart Davis (right), who co-sponsored her state’s bill. along with State House Majority Leader Julie Fahey (D). “They don’t have enough attendants to serve them all.”
Supporters say the changes will help gas station owners, who are mostly franchisees and earn just a few cents per gallon of gasoline sold. Reducing the number of employees they have to hire will keep their small business going, they say.
“The current law that doesn’t allow self-service is hurting my small business,” Joe Ochello, gas station owner and president of the New Jersey Gasoline and Convenience Automotive Association, told lawmakers in a letter last week. “Rising prices and labor shortages are making it difficult for the gas station to operate.”
Allegedly existing full service regulations exist to protect the elderly and disabled who either cannot self-refuel or simply do not want to.
But in practice, the laws are a legacy of payroll programs promoted in the post-World War II years, when hundreds of thousands of military personnel returned to the States, vying for jobs in an economy that suddenly added millions more women to jobs than before World War II. war.
New Jersey introduced its full service rules in 1949. Oregon followed them two years later. Decades from now, generations of high schoolers and college students will be working their first jobs, filling up gas and getting paid.
Opponents of the change in both Oregon and New Jersey argue that changing full service rules will result in job losses and reduced safety.
UFCW Local 555, Oregon’s largest private sector union, said the bill “represents the first step in a path that will lead to job cuts and the eventual disappearance, as well as a higher risk of spills and dangerous accidents.”
In one new argument, the Oregon union also claimed that both states have lower flu infection rates than other states. “As new, more contagious variants of COVID emerge, Oregon may want to rethink the adoption of a policy that will result in many traveling people necessarily reaching for a regular pump handle.”
Oregon amended its law in 2015 to allow gas stations in rural areas to offer self-service pumps during business hours, and allow stations in some coastal counties to offer these pumps after business hours. But opposition to total abolition remains deeply rooted in the mind of the state.
“There’s a fraction of people who just call it the Oregon Way. They’re like, “This is what we do in Oregon, we don’t pump our own fuel.” And then there is a group of people who say it’s work,” said Boshart Davis.
The fate of these two measures is uncertain. The Oregon version passed through a committee in the state House of Representatives last week, but even supporters have admitted they have little hope of final passage before the end of the current legislative session, an even-year abbreviated session.
The New Jersey version was only revealed last week. Even if it passes, it’s not clear Gov. Phil Murphy (D) will give his approval.
“I will not commit political suicide this morning,” Murphy said at a press conference in 2019, asking if he would allow self-service gasoline. “I don’t go near someone who pumps gasoline.”
In interviews, supporters said they hope to raise their measures again next year if progress stalls this time.
“We have good support from both sides. This is a bipartisan bill,” said Thomson of New Jersey.
The contentious debate seems bizarrely dated to anyone living outside of both states, and even to recent transplants. Public comments requested this year by the Oregon legislature include several incredulous comments from residents who have moved from other states and cannot understand the fact that they cannot pump their own gas.
“Coming from out of state over 10 years ago, I was shocked to see long lines of cars waiting for service personnel to hobble around the gas station,” an Oregon resident named Keith Harber wrote to the legislature. “Please put an end to this stupid charade that someone has perpetuated in this state and step into a more modern era where consumers are not being treated like idiots unable to pump gasoline.”
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