Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/626797
30 Oil Prophets LEGAL CORNER I write this right before Christmas as our industry is about to face a legislative session that has confirmed will include an attempt to pass an additional gas tax. While we talk about "down years" in a given legislative session where there is no "critical issue" facing our industry, those "down years" seem to be few and far between if not downright non- existent. Again, this coming session will certainly be no exception. As someone who has participated in the legislative process on behalf of the gasoline and convenience store industry in the state for the past almost 30 years, I thought I would take a few lines and try to stress upon the P&CMA members just how critical your involvement is in that process. You hear this, the Association touts this, but I can tell you that there is no greater impact on a legislator's vote than one of his/her constituents contacting them and expressing their position about a given piece of legislation. We have some of the very best contract lobbyists working for us in Jim Barton and Phillip and Allison Kinney. They have done and continue to do an outstanding job for this industry, and I, as your Association attorney and Bart Fletcher, your Association President, are registered lobbyists and are intimately involved on your behalf on issues of importance to your businesses. However critical your lobbyist and leadership's roles may be, one can argue that we are still mouthpieces for a cause, critical and hopefully invaluable spokespeople for our industry, but in many respects "hired guns" nonetheless. It is one thing for Bart Fletcher, Barton & Kinney and/or me to go talk to a legislator about an issue or a piece of legislation, and we do that all the time, and as the attorney, oftentimes my role is to talk about the legal implications both obvious and not obvious in a given piece of legislation. Again, that process is critical. BUT, there is NOTHING more influential than John Q. Alabamian from Greenbo, Alabama calling or going to see his/her state senator or his/her state representative and expressing to that representative face to face or by telephone just how a given piece of legislation will, has or might affect their business. The reality is you are what counts at the end of the day. You are what matters most to these legislators. The cynical say that is because you are the one best in a position to remove them from office, but true public servants committed to representing their constituents must be willing to listen to what their constituents want to be effective and to be effective long term. Why am I back pounding this drum? In 30 years we have had issue after issue where your "grass roots" involvement in the legislative process has not only been important, but critical and in fact determinative of the ultimate outcome. Outcomes where more often than not we are trying to keep something from passing that will hurt our business, but almost as often, trying to get things passed that will benefit and protect our businesses. As just one example, certainly many of you remember in the last 15 years the all-out effort to repeal our Motor Fuel Marketing Act (our below cost sales law). We literally filled the halls of the State House and the public hearing room with jobbers and dealers talking about how critical and how important this law is to gasoline marketers in the state of Alabama. That repeal effort was well-funded and engineered by some of the biggest players in the business and in fact was sponsored by the Speaker Pro Tem of the House. The bill didn't even make it out of committee. There was no reason for that other than the P&CMA membership stepping up to make their position clear. Recent events have shown that this industry's influence is still significant, The Legislative Process: Getting Involved H. Dean Mooty, Jr. Mooty & Associates, P.C.