State associations play a vital role in the convenience industry, acting as the first line of defense for retailers and fuel marketers. “With so much policy making happening on a state and even local level, the state associations are ideally placed to help our industry at those government levels where NACS isn’t active,” said Jon Taets, director of government relations at NACS.

Together, NACS and state associations work together to share information and resources to protect and advance the industry. “Every month, the NACS government relations department holds virtual meetings with state executives from across the country where we share what is happening in Washington D.C. and they are able to share what they are seeing and working on in their states,” Taets said.

To celebrate the work they do across the country, here’s a closer look at three leading associations. 

New York

An In-Store Focus

Convenience Store Impact

Total Stores: 7,561

Employees: 168,026

Transactions per day: 10,347,370

“New Yorkers are known for their resiliency, so we’re pretty quick to pivot if need be,” said Alison Ritchie, president, New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS). That’s vital in a state with a heavy regulatory burden. “I hate to say it, but we expect this kind of regulatory environment, and we’re prepared to work within it,” Ritchie said. 

New York elected officials often propose new taxes and policies on nicotine and tobacco products. In 2026, oral nicotine pouches will be in the crosshairs, as State Governor Kathy Hochul has included a 75% excise tax on the products in her budget proposal. As of January 2026, oral nicotine pouches are not taxed. 

“New York already struggles with a large illicit tobacco and vape market, and this tax will expand it further,” Ritchie said. 

The tax proposal comes after NYACS and other industry partners like NATSO successfully fought a ban on flavored oral nicotine pouches. New York Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin chose to pull the bill from a vote due to successful advocacy efforts. “Our message to the health committee not only touched upon how bans expand illicit markets but also how nicotine pouches support harm reduction for adults. Rather than an outright ban, the better solution to protect children is stronger enforcement, education and responsible retail access,” said Ritchie.

However, the ban on flavored oral nicotine pouches isn’t gone for good. “We fully expect it to come up again,” Ritchie said. 

Outside of backbar products, a top priority for the association is fighting any expansion to New York’s recycling program that requires stores to accept bottles for recycling and return a five-cent deposit on each one. The current proposed expansions would raise the deposit to 10 cents and expand accepted packaged beverages to include energy drinks and more. 

To ensure an expanded bottle bill doesn’t harm convenience stores, NYACS is working to ensure that bottle redemption centers stay viable. Nearly 200 of these centers have closed over the last couple of years due to insufficient funds. The association is working on language that would support these redemption centers without increasing the handling fees for convenience store owners. “We recognize the value of a program like this. It just needs to be implemented in a way that doesn’t burden community retail,” Ritchie said.

NYACS is also working with Senator Joseph Addabbo, the chair of the racing, gaming and wagering committee, to increase the state lottery retail commission from 6% to 7%. The association is advocating for a four-year implementation plan with a .25% increase each year. 

“The retailer commission rate has stayed at 6% since 1967, even as lottery sales grew to nearly $8 billion. With the rise in the cost of doing business over the last 40 years, it makes absolutely no sense that that commission hasn’t gone up at all,” Ritchie said. 

A major win for all New York businesses came in 2025. NYACS worked alongside many other business groups to urge the state of New York to pay down nearly $7 billion in its unemployment insurance trust fund debt. Out of 22 states that borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployed workers during the Covid pandemic, New York was one of the last few states facing federal unemployment insurance debt. Employers were paying an extra $100 for every employee as an Interest Assessment Surcharge. “The state of New York did it—they paid it off in the fiscal year 2026 budget, and it delivered a lot of relief for businesses and workers in the state,” Ritchie said.

Texas

Big Battles, Bigger Wins

Convenience Store Impact

Total Stores: 16,504

Employees: 343,097

Transactions per day: 21,128,560

“Texas is booming. It’s a great place to do business,” said Paul Hardin, CAE, president/CEO, Texas Food & Fuel Association (TFFA). “Identifying growth opportunities in the state is pretty easy to do if you start tracking the growth numbers and national stats on fastest growing cities.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the fastest growing city in the country was Princeton, Texas, a town about an hour away from Dallas—it had a 30.6% growth rate between the summers of 2023 and 2024. According to the NACS/NIQ TDLinx Convenience Industry Store Count, in 2025 Texas gained 88 convenience stores, the most of any state. It continues to have the most convenience stores of any state, with more than one in 10 stores in the United States.

The Texas Legislature holds its regular sessions in odd-numbered years, with each session beginning on the second Tuesday in January and lasting 140 calendar days. With such a limited time frame to endorse and oppose bills, TFFA is actively planning its priorities for the 2027 legislative session. 

Inside the store, TFFA will continue pushing a bill that allows c-stores to sell ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails. “We can legally sell up to 17% ABV malt-based beverages, beer and wine in the state of Texas, but not if it contains spirits or liquor. That’s been really frustrating for our retailers, because the liquor stores have the market cornered,” Hardin said. In 2027, the Texas House of Representatives will have a new chairman of the Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures. Hardin noted that TFFA hopes to build a good working relationship with the chair and create progress on the RTD cocktails bill. 

The association is also fighting alongside 1,200 organizations in a battle for tort reform in Texas. “It’s the new lottery system in Texas,” Hardin said. Currently, if an incident occurs with any company-branded vehicle or on a company’s property, the other party can sue the company regardless of who was at fault. 

For example, a driver for one of TFFA’s member companies was pulled well off the highway to look at paperwork. Someone veered off the road, ran into the truck and sued the company—winning money after an incident they caused. 

Amid these ongoing battles, TFFA has had some major wins for the industry in recent years. 

For 90 years, the fuel weights and measures program was overseen by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Unfortunately, the department would consistently raise penalties on gas stations and collect more fees than necessary to run its enforcement programs.

In 2019, TFFA “succeeded in picking up the entire program from TDA and moved it to a different state agency, Texas Department of Licensing Regulation (TDLR),” Hardin said. “The fees went down, which was great, but more than that, we have an agency that is willing to listen to stakeholders.” 

For example, with the state’s 30-day tank-testing regulation, previously it was easy to get a “gotcha fine” if a retailer missed the deadline because an emergency came up. TFFA, TDLR, and other state government agencies worked together to modify the schedule and reporting process, creating a grace period for retailers. “One of our members indicated that the move saved them a quarter of a million dollars a year,” Hardin said.

California

Preventing Regulatory Wildfires From Spreading

Convenience Store Impact

Total Stores: 12,143

Employees: 268,810

Transactions per day: 16,553,830

“California tends to move first, particularly in the energy and environmental space,” said Elizabeth Graham, chief executive officer of the California Fuels & Convenience Alliance (CFCA). “State leaders have set extraordinarily ambitious goals, and while those goals may be well intentioned, they frequently fail to account for the real world impacts on the small businesses expected to implement them.” 

She noted policies affecting insurance, wages and labor, as well as extensive fueling regulations. “For our members, the single biggest challenge is navigating a growing web of requirements while still trying to run a viable small business. Compliance has become a full-time job in itself,” she said. 

With a lean staff serving one of the largest and most complex state markets in the country, the association has focused on building scalable, grassroots systems to engage members and respond quickly to policy threats, particularly at the local level. Several years ago the CFCA launched its Local Chapters program, which is a platform to help retailers unite with other retailers in their same jurisdiction to address local policy changes. 

Local regulations are a priority for the CFCA because when one city enacts a policy, “the neighboring jurisdiction will then pick it up, and it just spreads like wildfire,” Graham said, noting that the statewide flavored tobacco ban began as a local policy. “Anything that affects the fuel and convenience industry at the local level, we will always be active in no matter what.”

Additionally, CFCA has continued to fight policies that ban new construction of gas stations or upgrades to existing ones. As of January 2026, a total of 16 jurisdictions have enacted these policies. “These policies don’t reduce fuel demand. They simply constrain supply and discourage infrastructure investment,” Graham said. “Whenever one of these proposals appears, we work with our members to ensure policymakers hear directly from the small businesses affected.” 

CFCA is also fighting AB 762, which is a ban on single-use vapes. “This bill is very similar to what we fight at the local level with tobacco retail license ordinances,” Graham said. If passed, the measure would expand the illicit market. “When legal retail channels are eliminated, consumers don’t stop purchasing these products. They turn to unregulated sellers,” she said. “That undermines public health goals and will cost the state an estimated $59 million annually in lost tax revenue.”

Graham continually emphasizes the power of retailers sharing their stories. “Over 95% of fueling establishments in California are operated by small business owners. Sharing your story, humanizing the industry, that’s what causes change,” Graham said. 
 

Props to Prop 36

A major win in California came in 2024, when the state legislation passed Prop 36—a bill CFCA and other retail associations endorsed to protect members from retail theft. Prior to the passage of the bill, theft of money or property valued at $950 or less (petty theft or shoplifting) was typically a misdemeanor. After the bill, this type of theft can be charged as a felony if the individual has two prior theft-related convictions. “Retail theft isn’t just a loss prevention issue,” said Elizabeth Graham, chief executive officer of the California Fuels & Convenience Alliance (CFCA). “It affects employee safety, store viability and whether communities continue to have access to essential goods and services.”