OMEGA News - OMEGA - West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association

Details: Press; April 07, 2014

readtomblin On April 4th, the West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association (OMEGA) launched a public fundraising campaign to help West Virginia children in crisis – the more than 4,000 West Virginia children in of out-of-home care and the 1,200 children in need of adoption.

On Friday, a kick-off event was hosted by First Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin at the Governor's Mansion. The highlight of the event was the First Lady ready "How Does A Dinosaur Say Goodnight?"

Jan Vineyard, President of OMEGA, said, “Every child deserves a loving home, and there are too many West Virginia children living with crisis in the family. This campaign will provide funds to the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia – which has shelters and assistance programs in every corner of the state – to help those children and families in need.”

Vineyard said brightly-colored paper flowers will be sold for one dollar at nearly 500 OMEGA-member convenience and grocery stores across the state.

“We are asking the public to join us in this effort by supporting an organization that works to help children in distress,” Vineyard said. “I would encourage individuals who see the campaign in their local convenience or grocery stores to join us in assisting West Virginia children.”

chsjan Vineyard said OMEGA has partnered with the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia to raise funds that will be used to support child assistance programs, such as emergency child shelters, foster care, adoption, mentoring, early intervention and numerous other family support programs throughout the state.

Mary White, director of development and philanthropy for the Children’s Home Society, said, “Our organization assisted nearly 13,240 West Virginia children last year and the need for help is overwhelming. This campaign will not only raise awareness about West Virginia children who need help or a family to call their own, but will provide our organization with a greater ability to make a positive impact on children’s lives.”

The OMEGA members participating in the “Every Child Deserves A Loving Home” Campaign include: Little General Stores, Inc., One Stop, Par Mar Oil Company, BFS Foods, Inc., DeFazio Oil Company, Go-Mart, Inc., TWJ, Inc., R. T. Rogers Oil Company, Stop In Food Stores and the Kanawha City Foodland.

OMEGA raised more than $93,000 during this effort last year and nearly $2 million dollars since 2003 for charities that improve the health, safety and wellbeing of West Virginia children. “This effort not only gives back to the communities where our members live and work, but it demonstrates the philanthropic nature of our industry. This is a win for all involved: the children, our members and the public.”

Additional Press: WV campaign launches to help children in need | http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/140404_24506.shtml

Details: Press; April 03, 2014

Yesterday evening, Governor Tomblin signed HB 4283 to raise the minimum wage, stating that, "I signed this bill because I believe it is a positive step toward helping more than 100,000 hardworking West Virginians earn a fair wage-including mothers, fathers, working adults, as well as teens working their first jobs." This new law raises the minimum wage to $8.00 in 2015 and then again to $8.75 in 2016. This will make West Virginia’s minimum wage rate the 5th highest in the country beginning on January 1, 2015.

The passage and signage of this bill was heavily debated due to its effects on current overtime laws and federal exemptions. From early on, OMEGA worked with both the Legislature and the Governor’s office on this bill. We originally hoped that we could address concerns and fix issues with the bill while it was still in the early stages of the process. Even though the bill passed through, we are confident that these important issues will still be addressed. A special session in May has been called to consider the overtime provisions of this bill. We have the Governor’s word that this issue, along with others, will be properly addressed then.

OMEGA will continue its involvement with this issue as the special session nears and will ask lawmakers to preserve the federal exemptions and overtime provisions that have long been a part of West Virginia minimum wage laws. We will keep you updated.

Details: Press; March 24, 2014

A U.S. Appeals Court on March 21 upheld the Federal Reserve's rules governing debit card interchange fees, dealing a major blow to retailers who have fought to reduce the transaction fees they are charged when customers swipe a debit card. The ruling reverses a lower court’s decision last year that the Federal Reserve had set the cap on debit card transactions too high.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Federal Reserve’s interpretation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was reasonable.

In issuing its ruling, the Court said the debit-fee issue put the Federal Reserve and the courts "in a real bind" because the Dodd-Frank amendment that limited the fees was poorly written by Congress.