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Hocog vetoes bill that imposes fee on scuba divers
Acting governor Victor B. Hocog disapproved yesterday a bill that would have imposed an additional $10 fee on scuba divers in the Commonwealth, saying the bill as written is vague.
House Bill 19-44, SD1 proposes to impose an additional $10 fee to be collected by scuba operators from their customers for renting oxygen tanks. Rep. George N. Camacho (R-Saipan) introduced HB 19-44.
HB 19-44, if signed into law, would require all scuba dive shop operators to impose on their customers an additional $10 surcharge fee per tank. The fees collected were supposed to fund the installation, operation, and maintenance of decompression chambers in the CNMI.
There are 15 scuba dive shops on Saipan alone.
A decompression chamber or hyperbaric treatment chamber is an apparatus used to treat divers that suffer from certain diving disorders. Decompression chambers can also be used to treat carbon monoxide poisoning, bacterial and radiation illnesses, and diabetes.
In his letter to House Speaker Rafael S. Demapan and Senate President Francisco M. Borja, Hocog said the bill’s language is vague and that would have an effect on its enforceability and implementation.
“The absence of clear instructions to scuba diving operators and to the Department of Finance in the collection and deposit of the fees will make it difficult to implement the assessment of the fees,” he said.
Hocog cited Section 2 (a) of the bill where it should have stated that it was the CNMI government that would impose the $10 surcharge fee instead of the scuba diving operators. That section of HB 19-44 should have also been specific in saying that dive shop operators would be authorized to collect the fees from customers.
The fees would then be remitted to the Department of Finance.
“As currently written, no timeline is provided on when the fees would be remitted,” added Hocog. …“Because of the foregoing deficiencies in the bill, I am left with no other recourse but to veto HB 19-44, HD1, SD1.”
Camacho said the CNMI lacks a decompression chamber and patients that require its aid need to be flown to Guam for treatment.
