SACRAMENTO, California, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Last week’s Riverside visit concluded CIOMA’s regional meetings which have been hugely successful in educating attendees in a variety of legislative and regulatory issues, membership development, and promoting the yearly Pacific Oil Conference.

Within the last two months, CIOMA staff have ventured from Northern to Southern California to meet with attendees from over 50 companies that operate within the state. These regional meetings were held in Pleasanton, Fresno, and Riverside, California.

CIOMA Executive Director, Ryan Hanretty, shared and discussed insights and issues relevant to the convenience and fuel industry retailers and suppliers. Some of the highlights of Hanretty’s presentation were AB 1645 (Muratsuchi), which would ban the use of hydrogen fluoride and hydrofluoric acid by refineries. Proposing such a ban would leave refineries without the integral components to produce California grade gasoline. Another issue, SB 300 (Monning), would mandate health-warning labels to be placed on many sugar-sweetened beverages, and exposing beverage manufacturers and food retailers to lawsuits and fines. Lastly, the Bay Area tobacco bans were a hot topic of discussion as Contra Costa, San Francisco, Oakland and San Leandro c-stores are currently in jeopardy of losing their right to sell tobacco products to customers.

Attendees were encouraged to assist CIOMA in these battles, and to reach out to their local legislators to make their opposition heard. These issues directly affect the oil-industry and will severely hurt businesses if action is not taken to fight them.

CIOMA would like to thank everyone who attended the regional meetings and for their willingness to continue being a part of this important organization.

CIOMA is the industry’s statewide trade association representing the needs of independent wholesale and retail marketers of gasoline, diesel, lubricating oils and other petroleum products; transporters of those products; and retail convenience store operators.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/482907/CIOMA_Logo.jpg

SOURCE California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA)