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 Friday
Facts - Archives -
Month of March 2009Current
Week
March 27, 2009
A Very Busy Session Means Lots of Activity for CRMA
Will there be a Budget Passed before Adjournment?
CRMA to Offer Members New Dental Program that is Sure to Save
Money
CRMA Golf Outing Update
Retail News and Notes
• It has been a little while since our last FF and for that we
apologize. But we are back and there is a lot to report on, so
let’s get right to it.
• The CT General Assembly, in the midst of its long session,
has CRMA lobbyists protecting retailer’s interests on many
different fronts.
• Let’s begin with activity in the Environment Committee.
• That Committee has now passed two bills out of their
Committee which will impact our members.
• One, HB 5215 “An Act Promoting Reusable Shopping Bags” ,
would require that all retailers charge customers at the point
of sale an additional 5 cent fee if they choose to use a
plastic or paper bag.
• The bill has support from the House Majority Leader, Denise
Merrill (D-Mansfield) and Rep. Kim Fawcett (D- Fairfield) and
the CT Food Association.
• But, it does not have support from us. And we will keep
telling them and anybody else who will listen that not all
Retailers support a fee at the point of sale for the use of
plastic or paper bags.
• The bill has a host of problems for our members including
the requirement that the money collected be sent to the State
similar to the collection of sales tax and that members could
and most likely will be subject to audit by the state DRS if
they do not collect the 5 cent fee at the point of sale for
the use of plastic or paper bags.
• The bill also would require the money be dedicated to
environmental programs administered by the DEP.
• We will keep fighting against this bill and hopefully the GA
will listen to our arguments that our members are fighting to
keep their business open and that this is just one more thing
the government is asking them to do without any regard to
their plight.
• The Environment Committee is also considering a bill that
would ban the use of BPA in all products beginning 2014 but
would require manufacturers to place a warning label on
products beginning 2011.
• CRMA is part of coalition of business groups that are
opposing the bill.
• We met with the chief sponsor of the bill, Rep. Beth Bye
(D-West Hartford) last week to outline our concerns. We are
hopeful that she now has a better understanding of our
position.
• We will keep you updated on the progress of both of these
bills coming out of Environment.
General Law Committee update:
• The other major issue that has emerged on the Committee
front is one coming out of the General Law Committee and its
chief sponsor the House co-chair, Rep. Jim Shapiro
(D-Stamford).
• That issue is HB 6516, “An Act Establishing Minimum Retail
Refund and Exchange Policies”.
• The bill, as its title suggests, requires that all
retailers, regardless of size, have the same minimum retail
return policy. So, in effect, the bill attempts to tell
retailers what their return policy must look like.
• In addition, the bill would require that a retailer must
accept a return if the customer has a receipt, regardless if
the retailer thinks that receipt might be fake.
• We have attempted to persuade Rep. Shapiro that his approach
to this issue, a one size fits all return policy, will hurt
retailers. We will continue those discussions and hopefully
prevail.
• But, it will not be easy and we may need members to contact
their local legislator to tell them they oppose the bill.
• On a happier note, the General Law Committee did pass out of
its Committee our ORC bill, SB 974 “AAC Organized Retail
Theft’.
• And, we think, although nothing is certain in the
legislative process, we have slowed down the attempts to
further regulate gift cards by establishing a gift card trust
fund.
• We had a very good meeting with the Sen. Chair of the
Committee on that issue last week and came away feeling better
about our chances of defeating that bill.
• Also, the General Law Committee did pass out of its
Committee another bill that we apposed, HB 6519 “AAC
Pawnbrokers, Precious Metal and Stone Dealers and the Recovery
of Stolen Jewelry and Precious Metals and Stones”.
• This bill would make unnecessary restrictions on our Jewelry
Store members by requiring they hold merchandise for an
extended period before reselling them.
• In essence the bill seeks to treat Jewelers the same as they
treat pawnbrokers.
• We oppose that attempt and are confident that we will
prevail in defeating that bill.
• There are other bills we are following and many of them are
discussed during our bi-weekly conference calls that are held
on Wednesday at 11:00 EST. Those calls are open to all members
and we encourage you to participate.
• Our next call is scheduled for April 8th. If you are
interested in learning more about our Legislative Committee
calls, please call Cathy in our office at 860-527-1044.
Will there be a Budget Passed before
Adjournment?
• The elephant in the room that continues to be ignored – the
enormous state budget gap that is hovering over the heads of
the Governor and the Legislature.
• The gap as last reported, was close to $8 billion over two
years, but with the continued decline in the economy, that
number may grow by the time the Legislature gets around to
dealing with it sometime in the next couple of months.
• The Finance Committee has set up an informal Sub-Committee
to look at all the existing business exemptions that are on
the books now. There is one sub-committee that is looking at
consumer exemptions.
• We get the strong sense from some members of that
sub-committee that they will recommend elimination of the
current clothing exemption allowance of $50 which the State
forgoes collecting $130million a year.
• In addition, we think they may also take the Governor’s
recommendation and eliminate the sales tax holiday, which is
about $3 million annual.
• We also get the sense that the Committee as a whole will
look at whether the State should increase the states sales tax
all together along with eliminating exemptions as a way to
close the growing budget gap.
• We will continue to be active in lobbying for retailers
interests before this Committee and will keep you updated on
their progress. One key date to keep in mind for Finance is
they have until April 17th to finish their business.
• On the spending side, the Appropriations Committee has an
April 16th deadline and we hear they too are hard at work
trying to find ways to cut spending. Let’s hope they work as
hard at finding areas to cut, which we are sure there are
many, before they look to raise taxes on our customers.
CRMA to Offer Members New Dental Program
that is Sure to Save Money
• We are very excited today to announce that beginning April
1st, we are going to introduce a new member services offering.
• This new money saving program is in the area of Dental
Insurance.
• Because of our increased buying power, we are pleased to
offer members a Dental Program with Met Life, that we are
certain has the very best pricing in the State!
• We make that claim confidently, because we have looked at
other pricing plans and ours is simply the best. And it is
backed by a great company Met Life.
• So, we truly have a great money saving program for members
that can only be purchased if you are a member of CRMA.
• We will be sending detailed pricing information to members
by next week but in the meantime, if you are interested in
getting a jump start on this program, please call our office
today!
• CRMA understands that all size retailers are looking for
ways to lower their bottom line and this program is a real way
to do that. No gimmicks - just good old fashion group buying
power that allows all of our members to save money.
CRMA Golf Outing Update
• The CRMA Golf Committee met this week to finalize and tie up
some loose ends before sending out invitations for this year’s
event.
• We understand this is a tough time for members, but the CRMA
Golf Outing is a great way to get together with colleagues and
business partners and to expand your networking and your
business while helping the Association raise valuable funds.
• Please mark October 6th on you calendar for this years event
and please consider helping us make this year another great
event.
• If you would like to help with this year’s event, please
call Cathy in our office today at 860-527-1044!
Retail News and Notes
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Wal-Mart to partner with companies for drug pricing
Wal-Mart plans to expand an employer-based prescription-drug
program that allows companies to bypass a third-party provider
and get drug pricing directly from the retailer. Wal-Mart
currently has such a partnership with Caterpillar.
Bloomberg (3/26)
•
Adapting marketing for the recession
The recession makes low-cost online marketing even more
important, but how should retailers use it? Being flexible is
important, and aspirational marketing is out.Retail
Week (U.K.) (3/27)
•
Grocers use discounts to win customers' loyalty
Grocers such as Meijer, Kroger,
Giant Eagle and Wal-Mart are offering big deals to lure
customers from one another -- and keep them. During the year
ending in February, the portion of items sold on sale was up
about a percentage point.
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (3/26)
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