"I think in today's economy, every penny counts," he told the newspaper.
But the Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience [image-nocss] Store Association, which represents 10,000 independent stations and stores and 110,000 employees, disputed the claim. "I would disagree that it's 7 cents," executive director Ned Bowman told the paper. "I'd love to see his data and where he comes up with those numbers."
Slosberg cited studies found on the Internet, the report said.
The 1985 law's intent was to prevent one retailer from having any competitive advantage over another by selling gasoline for less than what they paid to suppliers.
Big businesses such as Costco, BJs and Wal-Mart could offset the loss from gasoline sales with increased sales of food and merchandise and smaller businesses cannot compete with that, according to Bowman.
"You're going to have an awful lot of people going out of business, and you're going to lose an awful lot of jobs in the state of Florida," Bowman said.
Slosberg does not agree.
"There aren't a lot of mom-and-pop gas stations around anymore," he said. "It's all big business, and if they start saying that the larger corporations are going to drive mom and pops out of business, that behavior is already illegal under federal antitrust laws."
Appearing at a Mobil station in Boca Raton on Saturday, Slosberg announced his bill had been filed and co-sponsored by State Senator Rhonda Storms (R).
The AAA's local chapter supports any benefits of a repeal, but it is also wary of the impact on consumers. "Generally, we're supportive of things that save consumers money," local AAA senior vice president Kevin Bakewell told the Sun-Sentinel. "Obviously if it was going to have a devastating effect on the mom and pop [stations] and that made gasoline less available in rural areas where the motorist wouldn't even have access to plentiful, easily available fuel, we'd be concerned about that."
This is not the first time a repeal of this law has been proposed but the impact on small businesses and jobs has always been a deal-breaker, according to Bowman. "That's one of the major reasons this bill has been up many, many times and it's been defeated many, many times and if it were really, really that good it would have passed a long time ago," he said.
Bowman said that he blames hedge fund traders for bidding up the price of oil, refineries for backing up the crude supply and banks for charging 4% on credit-card fuel purchases.
"Tell him to get real," Slosberg said. "He's just trying to shift the blame on everyone else."
Slosberg said that he agrees with Bowman that there are other ways to lower gasoline prices; "however, the Motor Fuel Marketing Practices Act is not consumer friendly at all," he said.
Florida is one of only 13 states to outlaw below-cost pricing for fuel, he added. "Why shouldn't we have lower gas prices?" Slosberg said. "I mean, 37 states have the right idea. Florida has the wrong idea."
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