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February 15, 2011

SB 362 - Increasing excise tax on all tobacco products is on the Senate Health & Human Resources Committee agenda tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.

The purpose of the bill is to increase the excise tax on cigarettes by $1.00 per pack; The bill increases the excise tax on all other tobacco products from seven percent of their wholesale prices to fifty percent.

If you do business in a border county and have a senator on this committee, you need to call them and let them know what this tax will do to your business.

Members of this committee are:

Senator Ron Stollings, Chairman         (304) 357-7939

Senator Dan Foster, Vice Chairman      (304) 357-7866

Senator TrumanChafin                        (304) 357-7808

Senator Evan Jenkins                          (304) 357-7956

Senator William Laird                          (304) 357-7849

Senator Ron Miller                               (304) 357-7959

Senator Corey Palumbo                        (304) 357-7880

Senator Roman Prezioso                       (304) 357-7961

Senator Greg Tucker                             (304) 357-7906

Senator Mark Wills                               (304) 357-7843

Senator Jack Yost                                (304) 357-7984

Senator Donna Boley                            (304) 357-7905

Senator Mike Hall                                 (304) 357-7901

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December 02, 2010

By Taylor Kuykendall

BECKLEY — West Virginia business leaders are meeting with their representatives in government across the state to discuss a range of issues, from combating the state’s drug problem to reforming the court system.

One of the nine meetings held by the West Virginia Business and Industry Council was hosted in Beckley. The purpose of the meeting was to bring lawmakers and business people together to discuss issues important to West Virginia business.

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November 22, 2010

In addition to serving as the lead sponsor of the 2010 Capitol Christmas Tree, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and its members are donating the fuel and refreshments for the seven-vehicle caravan as it travels on its 4,500-plus mile trip from Wyoming to Washington, D.C. 
On Nov. 27, the tree will be traveling through West Virginia. NACS is paying for the fuel and asking the store to submit invoices directly to avoid incurring debit or credit swipe fees. In 2009, U.S. convenience stores paid $7.4 billion in credit card fees, of which the vast majority were swipe fees.

The 2010 Capitol Christmas Tree will arrive in the metro Washington, D.C. area on Nov. 28. The lighting ceremony will occur on Dec. 7. 

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July 15, 2010

The convenience and petroleum retailing industry’s nearly decade-long battle to rein in outrageous interchange fees became a reality today as the U.S. Senate voted 60 to 38 in support of the financial reform package known as the Dodd-Frank Bill.

Today’s vote removes the last hurdle in getting this bill enacted into law, given that President Obama has said that he will sign the legislation once it clears Congress. The House of Representatives passed the legislation on June 30.

Provisions within the package, known as the Durbin Amendment, direct the Federal Reserve to issue rules to ensure that debit card interchange fees, also known as swipe fees, are reasonable and proportional to the processing costs incurred. Visa and MasterCard currently charge debit swipe fees of around 1 percent to 2 percent of the transaction amount — among the highest rates in the industrialized world.

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