Gasoline Swindle No More—Maybe

There are few pleasures in life so fleeting as the sight of a gas station marquee promising relief from highway robbery—only to pull up to the pump and find that promise as empty as the tank that led you there.

But fear not, weary traveler, for Assembly Bill 29 seeks to end the grand deception.

“That is one of the additions that would come through in this bill,” says Bill Striejewski, who holds the high-sounding title Measurement Standards Administration Director with Nevada’s Department of Agriculture. “[It] would be to specify that street signage would show the higher price or highest price or both prices.”

In other words, if a gas station is going to advertise its wares, it had better tell the whole truth, not just the part that gets you to turn off the road. The bill would also untangle some legal cobwebs in Nevada’s fuel regulations, which haven’t seen dusting since 1951—a year when gasoline was cheap, cars were steel, and no one had yet imagined the modern swindle of electronic price signs and card surcharges.

The current laws, written when gas stations were less concerned with chicanery, fail to address many 21st-century innovations, including LED pricing signs, the ethanol content of fuel, and the now ubiquitous practice of charging more for credit card transactions. Under AB 29, any gas station that chooses to display its prices must list the highest price per gallon, ensuring that drivers aren’t bamboozled by the dream of discount fuel that vanishes upon arrival. The bill also insists that pumps properly label fuel grades, disclose the presence of ethanol, and bear the Nevada Department of Agriculture’s seal of approval, certifying that a gallon is indeed a gallon, not three quarts and a wink and a smile.

Some stations list all their prices honestly already, and Striejewski applauds their virtue. But, for those who prefer to let the fine print do the talking, AB 29 aims to correct their habits.

The bill recently received a hearing before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. And while no one dared to oppose it outright, support came from the Retail Association and the Energy and Convenience Association of Nevada—groups that find clarity a refreshing novelty.