New Jersey drivers may have to learn to pump their own gas

New Jerseyans, used to being overshadowed by New York and Philadelphia, hold sacred the things that make the state unique.

There’s the processed pork product known as Taylor Ham (or, if you’re in South Jersey, it’s called “pork roll”). The jughandle, that strange off-ramp designed to make sure no one makes the brazen move of trying to turn left. And then there’s the thing outsiders are most likely to immediately notice: Full-service gas.

For 73 years, drivers in New Jersey have been barred from pumping their own gas. It’s the only state in the nation that doesn’t allow it at all. Now, after an aborted attempt in 2015, the state’s gas station industry is again pushing to repeal that law, endangering the state’s unofficial motto: “Jersey girls don’t pump their own gas.”

The proposal, announced via press release Monday by a new industry-backed group called Fuel Your Way NJ and sponsored by a bipartisan trio of state Assembly members, immediately caused a stir across the state.

But last time it was tried, it didn’t go well.

Under the new bill, New Jerseyans would be allowed to pump their own gas, but stations with more than four pumps would be required to have a full-service option, presumably at a higher price. Those pushing the change say a national workforce shortage has made it more difficult to hire station attendants, a reality that can lead to long lines at the pumps or even force some stores to limit their hours.

To top it off, fuel prices are way up — and could go higher — as sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine constrict the global oil supply.

“The climate has changed, and now is the time to get this done,” Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store, and Automotive Association, said in an interview. “We’ve got a lot of legislators who are in favor of doing this. They’re not running from it the way they used to.”

State Assemblymember Carol Murphy, a sponsor, said in a statement that her bill would give drivers “more options.”

“While some drivers may enjoy the convenience of staying in their car as an attendant fills their tank, waiting for that assistance becomes inconvenient when a driver is in a rush or the station is particularly busy,” Murphy, a Democrat from southern New Jersey, said. “This legislation will simply give drivers more options when it comes to filling up their gas tanks themselves, while ensuring drivers who need it can still receive assistance at the pump.”

New Jersey’s ban on self-serve gas dates back to the 1949 Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act, which cited, among other things, fire hazards and exposure to toxic fumes, “particularly in the case of pregnant women.”

Full-service gas stations were the norm then. But as gas pumps became more modern, and cars got safer, most Americans got accustomed to serving up their own fuel.

But not in New Jersey.

In 2015, state Republican Assemblymember Declan O’Scanlon proposed legislation to make New Jersey gas stations self-serve. Unlike the newest proposal, it would have allowed most gas stations to go entirely self-serve after three years — with the exception of gas stations on the state’s toll roads, which would have been required to keep a full-serve option.

The proposal gained bipartisan sponsorship in the state Senate, but died almost immediately when then-Senate President Steve Sweeney said that as long as he was in charge, he wouldn’t post the bill.

“There’s nothing wrong right now with our system,” Sweeney, a Democrat, said at the time. “There’s not a problem.”

Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, while not opposed in principle, also threw cold water on the idea in 2016, saying his own polling showed New Jersey voters — and especially women — just didn’t want to pump their own gas.

“We polled this over and over. The last poll we did on this question, 78 percent of New Jersey women said they were opposed to self-serve gas — 78 percent. You can’t find 78 percent of people in New Jersey who agree on anything,” Christie said at the time, adding that 52 percent of men also opposed self-serve. “The reason it’s not happening is, no one will vote for it.”

Christie’s numbers squared with a public Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released four years earlier, which found 63 percent of New Jersey voters wanted to keep the law in place — including 72 percent of women and 55 percent of men.

But Sweeney’s no longer in charge after a stunning loss in November to a virtually-unknown truck driver. And Christie left office in 2018. His Democratic successor, Phil Murphy, has been noncommittal on the issue but said Friday he was open to considering the proposal.

“Self-service gas — that’s been sort of a political third rail in New Jersey, which I have historically not crossed,” Murphy said at a press conference in Trenton. “But given gas prices, on average, have gone over $4 a gallon — I’m not necessarily signing up for that, because I need to understand what impact it would have — but I will say more broadly we’re committed to finding … any way we can make this state more affordable.”

The office of the state’s new Senate president, Nicholas Scutari, did not respond to a request for comment and Cecilia Williams, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, shed no light on his feelings about self-serve gas.

“The Speaker is familiar with the bill that’s just been introduced and aware of the discussion surrounding this issue, and will be taking a look,” Williams said.

O’Scanlon — a Republican who’s now a state senator and plans to sponsor a companion bill in the upper house — sees several other factors that could give the bill a real shot this time around.

When O’Scanlon first proposed the measure in May 2015, the average price for a gallon of gas was about $2.80. Today, it’s about $3.83 nationally — $3.89 in New Jersey, according to AAA. In its press release, the gas station industry said self-serve gas could reduce the price by “at least” 15 cents per gallon. The pandemic labor shortage has hit gas stations as well, which O’Scanlon said he’s noticed with longer lines at the pump.

“I’ve waited in line for 20 minutes on the Turnpike to get fuel when there are cones in front of half the pumps,” O’Scanlon, who represents parts of the Jersey Shore, said in an interview.

Risalvato, of the gas merchants organization, said the ongoing worker shortage, already bad before Covid, has brought some of his member stations to a crisis point.

“The rest of the world is having a shortage of employees, but they can shuffle you over to a self-checkout lane. In a gas station, if we say ‘check yourself out’ we break the law,” Risalvato said. “I’m not kidding. I’ve had members call me in tears [saying], ‘How do I stay open? I’m begging employees to keep their shift, stay longer, wait until the next employee shows up.’ They’re working double and triple [shifts]. They have to pay crazy overtime. Then you burn [station attendants] out. They leave and the problem is worse.”

Oregon, New Jersey’s only companion state in banning self-serve, has been gradually backing off, loosening its law in 2015 to allow stations in rural areas to allow self-service at night and temporarily allowing it elsewhere during the pandemic. The Oregon Legislature is considering a bill similar to the one just proposed in New Jersey.

To have any chance at passage, the New Jersey bill would need a commitment from legislative leadership and, eventually, Murphy. It’s not clear it will achieve that.

Bruno Tedeschi, a spokesperson for Fuel Your Way NJ, said in an email that a bipartisan group of state senators plans to introduce a companion bill soon.

State Sen. Dick Codey, a Democratic former governor, said he opposes self-serve gas. When former Gov. Jon Corzine, a fellow Democrat, wanted to institute a pilot program to allow it in 2006, Codey said he warned Corzine there would be backlash. And there was.

Corzine’s office was inundated with 1,400 phone calls and emails, mostly in opposition, according to a report in Stateline. Corzine quickly abandoned the idea.

“I remember when Jon Corzine said to me, ‘Dick, I’m going to do self-serve. I said, ‘Jon, not a good idea.’ … So he did it and after four days he said, ‘fuck this, you were right.’”

“There are some things people don’t want to give up, and that’s one of them,” Codey said.