Bill 231 explained in plain English
Protecting Ontarians by Enhancing Gas Station Safety to Prevent Gas and Dash Act, 2020
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill proposes amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to mandate prepayment for gasoline at gas stations, require safety training for workers, and ensure new pumps have technology preventing pre-payment dispensing.
This bill, called the Protecting Ontarians by Enhancing Gas Station Safety to Prevent Gas and Dash Act, 2020, proposes changes to Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act. The main goal is to improve safety for workers at gas stations by requiring customers to pay for gasoline before they receive it. It also mandates training for workers involved in selling gasoline and requires new or replacement gas pumps to have technology that prevents gasoline from being dispensed before payment.
- Amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to introduce new requirements for gas stations.
- Requires employers at gas stations to ensure customers prepay for gasoline before it is dispensed from a pump that has payment-prevention technology.
- Mandates that employers at gas stations with prepay technology must post a prescribed notice on each relevant gasoline pump.
- Requires employers at gas stations with prepay technology to provide training to workers involved in selling gasoline, according to prescribed requirements.
- Requires new or replacement gasoline pumps installed after the section comes into effect to have technology that prevents gasoline dispensing before payment.
- Allows for regulations to prescribe specific gas stations or classes of gas stations, and set specific dates for these requirements to apply.
- Allows for regulations to define the content and appearance of the prepayment notice and how it should be affixed to pumps.
- Allows for regulations to address transitional matters, including requiring advance notice of prepayment requirements.
- Allows for regulations to specify the requirements for worker training, including when and how often it must be provided.
- Specifies that new or replacement pumps must have technology that prevents gasoline dispensing before payment.
- States that the Act comes into force on a day proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor.
- Employers at gas stations.
- Workers involved in the sale of gasoline at gas stations.
- Customers purchasing gasoline at gas stations.
- Employers have a duty to require customers to prepay for gasoline before dispensing it from equipped pumps.
- Employers must post a prescribed notice on gasoline pumps.
- Employers must provide specific training to workers involved in gasoline sales.
- New or replacement gasoline pumps must have technology preventing dispensing before payment.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Specific requirements for gas stations or classes of gas stations may begin on a prescribed date.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance. It grants regulation-making power related to training and notices, which could imply enforcement mechanisms through existing or future regulations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- The bill relies on future regulations to define key aspects, such as which gas stations are 'prescribed,' the specific content and appearance of notices, the exact training requirements, and the commencement dates for different stations or classes of stations.
- The bill does not specify the penalties for non-compliance with the new requirements.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes 'technology that prevents a person from taking gasoline before paying for it'.
This Act is being amended to add new sections (26.1 and amendments to section 70) concerning safety measures at gas stations, specifically related to prepayment for gasoline, posting notices, worker training, and pump technology.
Source: Section 1 and Section 2
This subsection is amended to grant the Lieutenant Governor in Council the power to make regulations prescribing gas stations or classes of gas stations, setting dates for these requirements, the content and appearance of notices, and training requirements for workers.
Source: Section 2
This section is amended by adding a new subsection (2.1) to clarify that regulations made under paragraph 2.1 of subsection (2) can prescribe classes of gas stations by geographical location and set different dates for different stations or classes.
Source: Section 2
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced