Our Victories

Over the years, our efforts have saved our industry millions of dollars and a multitude of headaches.  Here are the highlights of just a few: 

• We passed legislation to exclude buydowns from the state’s sales tax saving South Carolina retailers from having to charge, collect and remit this new tax that was set to go into effect on July 1, 2021.
• We saved underground storage tank owners over $13 million in tank registration fees by making sure that federal clean up funds were properly credited to the SUPERB fund deficit. To calculate your share of that $13 million savings, multiply the number of tanks you own by $1,200.

• On June 29, 1994, the South Carolina General Assembly passed a provision in the state’s budget that would abolish the funding for the State Underground Petroleum Emergency Response Bank (SUPERB) Fund on December 31, 2026. Twenty-six years later and only six years before the 2026 sunset date, SCCPMA successfully got the law repealed, saving the SUPERB Fund from extinction.

  Senate bill 525, introduced by SCCPMA member Senator Larry Grooms, passed the state Senate last year by a vote of 45-0. It passed the House of Representatives earlier this year by a vote of 108-2. It was signed into law by Governor Henry McMaster on March 24, 2020. Fortunately, the bill passed before the General Assembly was forced to shut down due to Covid-19. Most legislation did not pass this year due to the shutdown.

  This is a major legislative victory for SCCPMA members and tank owners throughout South Carolina. SCCPMA Executive Director Michael Fields praised the efforts of Senator Grooms. “Senator Grooms did yeoman’s work on behalf of our members and I can’t thank him enough. As a tank owner himself, he fully understood that losing the Fund would have a negative impact on our members, our industry and the environment and he acted”, said Fields. Fields also noted that the grassroots efforts of SCCPMA members were crucial to victory. “Make no mistake about it, the voices of our members were heard loud and clear on this bill and paved the way for our win.”

• We saved the petroleum & convenience store industry over $360,000 a year by defeating a new $5 fee on every single petroleum dispenser in the state.

• We led the fight on multiple fronts against bills and amendments that would have allowed counties to pass their own local option gas tax.  We were successful at every turn in defeating this bad idea!

• We saved retailers an estimated $16 to $22 million a year due to our efforts to keep the state sales collection allowance.
• We saved the sales tax exemption on lottery tickets, which resulted in a savings of approximately $48 million a year and the hassle of collected and remitting another tax.
• We stopped The National Conference on Weights & Measures from requiring all dispensers to have temperature compensation devices, which resulted in an estimated $2,500 per dispenser.
• A move to allow lottery tickets to be purchased with debit cards was defeated with our leading the fight for lottery retailers to keep their full 7% commission on lottery ticket sales instead of losing some to the credit/debit card companies.
• A bill that prohibited a convenience store from selling single cold beer or wine in a portable cooler near entrances and exits was defeated due to phone calls made by our members coupled with the testimony given by SCCPMA lobbyist Michael Fields.
• Worked with Department of Revenue and the Agriculture Department to mitigate new administrative burdens on retailers that sell tax exempt fuel to farmers.