On Sunday, when he learned that the Senate had passed the bill that would impose a $1 surcharge on every customer of dive shops and marine concessionaires, Blalock’s fury went super-sonic.
“A plan with no plan…how incompetent and inept can they be?”
Northern Marianas Diving Operators Association Director, Hitoshi Yamaguchi, stated his 33 members will soon send a letter to the legislature requesting the bill be dropped from consideration.
“We’re already suffering … the lawmakers are trying to kill us.”
The Senate, while in a session on Tinian Wednesday, voted unanimously to pass the bill with one major change; the Marianas Visitors Authority was deleted and the sole surcharge beneficiary would be the Commonwealth Health Center for the purchase of hyperbaric chambers, or HBC’s, for Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
Blalock’s comment to the change was adamant and forceful.
“Rota and Tinian don’t have enough divers to justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a chamber — it’s crazy.”
The estimated price-tag for a HBC ranges from $400,000 to $600,000 that includes purchase, installation, staffing and maintenance.
The massive cost of HBC’s is the reason the dive and marine concessionaire community believe that the real objective behind the proposed tax is to provide back-door revenue to purchase specialized equipment for health care.
According to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is recognized by Medicare as a reimbursable treatment for 14 UHMS “approved” conditions including diabetically derived illnesses such as open-wound treatment.
“Tourism already supports the island … the government and the healthcare system need to fund their own budgets, not suck the life-blood out of small business and their customers,” stated Blalock two weeks ago and he hasn’t changed his opinion.
The amended surcharge bill now goes back to the House with one of three outcomes: they accept the change and the bill goes to the governor for signature, the House makes changes and votes on same, or the bill quietly dies from lack of action.
The dive association most certainly would choose the latter.
Minimum mandatory sentencing bill
Just over two weeks ago, Speaker Eli D. Cabrera, R-Saipan, pledged to push for a fast-track collaborative compromise between two pending minimum mandatory sentencing bills and last Wednesday he was true to the promise.
By unanimous vote, H.B. 17-198 passed and now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Rep. Edmund S. Villagomez, Covenant-Saipan, offered an amendment to the original bill authored by Rep. Ramon S. Basa, Covenant-Saipan, which expanded the bill’s coverage to include crimes against residents and tourists within 1,000-feet of tourist sites and recreational areas.
Both representatives expressed “relief” that their bill was expedited and now moves to the upper chamber but acknowledged the bill will not satisfy everyone.
“We made progress…but democracy requires compromise — it’s never perfect,” Villagomez said.
