WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

By its provisions, House Bill 589 does not apply to a dealer
who also operates a convenience store under a franchise agreement
with a party other than the distributor. In an uncodified
section, the bill sets forth a timetable for compliance with its
requirements.

I am aware of and extremely sensitive to the concerns that
House Bill 589 is intended to address. There have been several
tragic incidents where service station attendants were seriously
injured or killed during robberies, and there have been other
incidents where individual's lives have been in jeopardy. These
incidents weighed heavily in my deliberations on House Bill 589.
Because of my insistence on having a full understanding of this
legislation and my concern for the public safety, I requested Lt.
Governor Melvin Steinberg to hold a Supplemental Bill Hearing on
the bill. The testimony heard, and the several requests for
vetoes received have convinced me that House Bill 589, while
attempting to address a serious problem, is discriminatory, does
not effectively improve security, and may hurt service to the
public.

Because the bill does not apply to service stations that are
operated by employees of the supplier, or to a dealer who
operates a convenience store at its marketing location under a
franchise with a party other than the distributor to the dealer,
this sets up the incongruous situation where one 24 hours service
station would be required to install the security devices, while
another 24 hour service station across the street would not.

It is my understanding that service station robberies
account for just over 3% of all robberies in the United States.
Requiring the installation of the specified security measures at
all stations that are open for more than 18 hours ignores the
fact that a significant portion of the reported robberies occur
at hours other than the late night hours, that robberies are
concentrated at only a few of the stations, that fortified kiosks
would not prevent many of the robberies, and that many other
establishments that are also subject to robbery (including
convenience stores, restaurants, etc.) are open 24 hours. It
appears that criminal activity may be simply displaced to these
other establishments.

The security that would be gained from the fortified
cashier's booth or kiosk can be easily breached. Most service
stations offer "full-service" in addition to "self service," and
so the attendant would be required to leave the protected area.
In addition, many stations sell goods at retail that are
delivered to the customer through an open door, again breaching
the security of the booth. The possibility exits of customers
being taken hostage by robbers so as to circumvent the security
enjoyed by the attendants, or of robbers threatening to pour
flammable liquids into the booth. Finally, Article 56, Section
157K of the Code requires full-service to disabled drivers (at

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