NEW YORK NEEDS TO FOLLOW CONNECTICUT’S LEAD AND BAN ZONE PRICING - QUICKLY!
CT STATE SENATE PASSES BAN ON GASOLINE ZONE PRICING
“Connecticut’s State Legislature has stepped up to the plate – now it’s time for New York’s State Legislature to do the same.” -- Kaplowitz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 3, 2006
Contact: Michael B. Kaplowitz
Tel:(914) 995-2848 or (914) 924-3404 cell
| Since 2003, in a continuous attempt to address soaring fuel costs, Westchester County Legislator Michael B. Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), then chair of the Legislature’s Environment Committee, has strongly advocated for a state ban on a practice known as “Zone Pricing” – when big oil companies charge different wholesale prices to retail stations for the same gasoline based on location. “It’s not about the cost of the commodity itself and it should be. Instead, it’s a gross manipulation of the marketplace by big oil and it needs to be outlawed,” he said. |  |
“Zone Pricing distorts the free market because gasoline dealers almost always have franchise agreements stipulating that the dealers must purchase products from a single supplier,” said Kaplowitz, who now chairs the County Legislature’s Budget & Appropriations Committee. “Under these agreements, gasoline dealers cannot shop for a cheaper supply of gasoline. Then the wholesale price they are forced to pay is fixed by the oil companies, using factors that are beyond the laws of economics, but by simply how wealthy a community is or immobile a community is.”
In May of 2005, Kaplowitz, who now chairs the Legislature’s Committee on Budget & Appropriations, lead the Legislature in a unanimous vote passing a Resolution in support of proposed state bills (A.3856/S.973) that would, if passed, would prohibit the practice of zone pricing and marketing in New York State. “There has been no movement on these bills, in either House, since February and soon they will be out of session for the summer,” Kaplowitz noted.
“I’m urging Westchester’s State Delegation to make these bills a priority and pass them as quickly as possible, so our County’s residents can start to get some real relief at the gas pump,” he said.
Kaplowitz noted that in 2003, he made the commitment to fight for his constituents, and take on the big oil companies. “This practice is a vertical monopoly and its crippling small and independent dealers and, by extension, the consumer,” he said. “I’ve been at this for three years, I’m not about to give up now,” vowed the persistent lawmaker.
Kaplowitz credited Elaine Price, the County’s Director of Consumer Affairs, for her hard work and consistent dedication on this issue.
