11/10/21 Biden's Vaping Tax Sparks Concerns People Will Go Back to Cigarettes House Democrats are poised to vote on imposing a new federal excise tax on e-cigarettes-but without a tax increase on traditional cigarettes-leading some public-health experts to warn that the provision could push vapers back to cigarette smoking. The provision is part of the latest version of the party's social-spending and climate bill that could pass as soon as next week. It faces an uncertain path ahead given opposition in the Senate. The House bill includes a measure intended to tax vaping products on par with the existing federal cigarette tax rate of $1.01 per pack. It would raise about $9 billion over a decade. The nicotine tax would apply to e-cigarettes, vaping liquids and oral nicotine pouches. It wouldn't apply to nicotine gums, patches or other smoking-cessation aids approved as medical products by the Food and Drug Administration. Proponents say the measure would discourage underage children and teens from buying e-cigarettes, which aren't currently subject to a federal excise tax. 11/10/21 White House Acts on Supply Chain Issues Supply chain issues at ports, waterways and freight networks are being addressed by the Biden Administration though a set of immediate and short-term actions, the White House announced yesterday. The White House said that the goals and actions "lay the foundation for successful implementation of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. This action plan will increase federal flexibilities for port grants; accelerate port infrastructure grant awards; announce new construction projects for coastal navigation, inland waterways, and land ports of entry and launch the first round of expanded port infrastructure grants funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal." 11/10/21 U.S. Consumer Prices Jump 6.2% In October, The Biggest Inflation Surge In More Than 30 Years Inflation across a broad swath of products that consumers buy every day was even worse than expected in October, hitting its highest point in more than 30 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The consumer price index, which is a basket of products ranging from gasoline and health care to groceries and rents, rose 6.2% from a year ago, the most since December 1990. That compared with the 5.9% Dow Jones estimate. 11/9/21 Biden Administration Urges Courts Not to Block Vaccine Mandate The Labor Department has submitted a 28-page filing to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which seeks to get the vaccine mandate back on track after the court granted an emergency stay temporarily halting enforcement of the Biden Administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers, citing "grave statutory and constitutional issues." The filing states that halting the mandate "would likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day, in addition to large numbers of hospitalizations, other serious health effects, and tremendous costs," the Justice Department said in its filing. "That is a confluence of harms of the highest order." 11/9/21 Companies Rethink How to Hire Companies are scrambling to hire employees in a labor market that has ample job openings but far fewer applicants. The struggle to find labor has some companies rethinking job qualifications, as well as the types of incentives used to attract employees, reports the Wall Street Journal. Many companies are dropping the education requirements and background checks for applicants, including The Body Shop, and CVS no longer requires college graduates to submit their grades, while UPS is offering jobs in as little as 10 minutes to some employees. In October, the jobless rate for workers with only a high-school diploma fell to 5.4% from 5.8% in September, according to the Labor Department. The rate for college graduates dropped to 2.4% in October from 2.5% a month earlier. 11/8/21 Opinion: Why NJ's Not Yet Ready For Roads Teeming With Electric Vehicles, Written by Regina Egea and Sal Risalvato In 2020 New Jersey's Electric Vehicle Act set an ambitious goal of getting 330,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2025, a tenfold increase of the current 30,420. While electric vehicles are rightly being promoted as the "green" alternative to fossil-fueled internal combustion vehicles, they also present a set of unique challenges that our state is not fully prepared to meet. The practical and financial implications may inadvertently exacerbate many of New Jersey's wealth and socioeconomic disparities by creating winners and losers based on where you live or how much you make. . . The development of the needed charging infrastructure and how we pay for it has thus far escaped public scrutiny. While many EV owners of means will be able to charge their vehicles at home, what about everyone else, including those without private parking? 11/8/21 Lawsuit Challenging Jersey City's 1% Payroll Tax Headed To State Supreme Court The fate of Jersey City 1% payroll tax - vital to the funding of the city's school district - is now in the hands of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The state's top court announce Monday that it is taking up the case after an appellate panel affirmed the constitutionality of the payroll tax - on Jersey City businesses or out-of-city firms that employ people in Jersey City, was enacted in 2019 - but also vacated part of a Hudson County Superior Court ruling. 11/8/21 House Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill After a long summer of debate and negotiations in the Senate, as well as political wrangling in the House Democrat Caucus this fall, the House of Representatives finally passed H.R.3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, by a bipartisan vote of 228-206. Thirteen Republicans voted for the bill, and six Democrats voted against the bill. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes $550 billion in new spending for roads, bridges, water infrastructure, freight rail, transit systems, the electric grid and broadband. NACS supports this bill and urged House members of Congress to support the bill in a letter sent by NACS, NATSO and SIGMA earlier this fall. 11/8/21 Biden Vaccine Mandate on Hold for Now The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Saturday granted an emergency stay temporarily halting enforcement of the Biden Administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers, citing "grave statutory and constitutional issues." . . . The Department of Labor said it would defend the rules in court. The attorneys general of Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina Texas and Utah, joined with several private companies Friday in challenging the mandate before the 5th Circuit. Additional legal challenges were waged by other states in other circuits. 11/8/21 Winter Heating Bills Loom as the Next Inflation Threat With consumers already dealing with the fastest price increases in decades, another unwelcome uptick is on the horizon: a widely expected increase in winter heating bills. After plunging during the pandemic as the global economy slowed, energy prices have roared upward. Natural gas, used to heat almost half of U.S. households, has almost doubled in price since this time last year. The price of crude oil - which deeply affects the 10 percent of households that rely on heating oil and propane during the winter - has soared by similarly eye-popping levels. And those costs are being quickly passed through to consumers, who have become accustomed to cheaper energy prices in recent years and now find themselves with growing concerns about inflation this year. 11/6/21 Trucking Industry Hails 'Huge Victory' After Labor Secretary Says Most Truckers Will Be Exempt From Biden's Vaccine Mandate Truckers hailed victory on Friday after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in an interview that most drivers will be exempt from President Biden's vaccine and testing mandate, CNBC reported. Walsh's comments came in response to criticism from the trucking industry against a policy announced by The White House on Thursday that will require millions of workers to be fully vaccinated or get tested regularly. The new rules are set to come into effect on January 4. The rule applies to the federal government workforce and anybody working for a company with more than 100 employees, The White House said. 11/4/21 Why Do NJ Gas Prices Vary So Much From Station To Station? The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is around $3.44 in New Jersey right now, according to GasBuddy. That obviously means you can find prices both below and above that mark throughout the state. But you don't have to travel great lengths to do so. Numerous factors go into pricing at New Jersey's gas stations - some are obvious, others are not. Learning more about the marketplace may actually help you predict where you'll find the best prices, for the best stuff, on your daily commute. "Yes, there is a difference in quality. However, not a great difference," Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store and Automotive Association, told New Jersey 101.5. . . Unbranded gasoline is being purchased by the retailer at about 10 cents per gallon less than what's being paid by the big names, according to Risalvato. Over time, Risalvato said, filling up on only the cheaper brands has the potential to impact your vehicle. "Those gasolines do not have any kind of detergent factors injected at the time the truck is loaded, that help prevent buildups in your injector systems," he said. 11/4/21 OSHA Releases Workplace Vaccine Rule The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a requirement that employers with 100 or more employees mandate that all of their employees be fully vaccinated no later than January 4, 2022, or implement a policy allowing for weekly testing. The rule also requires that all unvaccinated workers wear a face mask on the job and submit to weekly testing. The mandate doesn't apply to employees who work remotely or exclusively outdoors. |
