Customs, Agriculture, and Quarantine Inspection Services Charge Established

(a) Each aircraft landing at the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam shall be levied a Customs, Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection services charge reasonably related to the costs incurred by the Customs and Quarantine Agency and the Department of Agriculture in providing, maintaining and operating the service charge facilities, and shall be allocated among air carriers in such a manner reasonably related to the relative demand for such services attributable to each carrier. Each consignment of air and sea cargo, and each passenger landing at a sea port shall also be levied a Customs, Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection services charge, except for those passengers which may be exempted under the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to § 73151. (b) The service charges shall be reasonably related to the costs incurred by the Customs and Quarantine Agency and the Department of Agriculture in providing, maintaining and operating the service charge facilities. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the establishment, modification or adjustment of any service charge levied pursuant to this Section shall be subject to the provisions of the Administrative Adjudication Law. SOURCE: GC § 47143 added by P.L. 23-045:IV:18 (Oct. 18, 1995). Amended by P.L. 23-096:2 (May 8, 1996). Amended by P.L. 24-014:15 (Mar. 21, 1997) as § 73145. Amended by P.L. 26-140:2 (Sept. 17, 2002). 2024 NOTE: Subsection designations added and modified pursuant to authority granted by 1 GCA § 1606. NOTE: P.L. 23-128:IV:14 (Dec. 12, 1996) repeals the Customs Inspection Fund (not § 73145) and provides for “... any and all remaining balances are reverted to the General Fund. All revenue previously earmarked into this Fund shall continue to be collected and credited to the General Fund.” COMMENT: The Legislature, being unaware of the previous codification of this section, and the previous amendment under this codified number, stated the intent of this latest 26th GL amendment as: Section 1. Legislative Findings and Intent. I Liheslaturan Guåhan finds that the law authorizing the “Customs, Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Services Charge Established” needs to be utilized for more facilities involved in agricultural inspections of agricultural products arriving at the Airport. While the Section authorizing this charge was repealed in Public Law Number 23-128:14, it was reinstated in Public Law Number 24-14:15, although using different section numbers. It is desirable to reenact this code section with reference to the right section numbers. I Liheslaturan Guåhan further finds that daily operations of certain programs within the Department of Agriculture, specifically the Plant, Protection and Quarantine and the Plant Nursery Programs, have been seriously crippled due to their inability to directly access funds which the Programs themselves generate through sales and services they provide on a daily basis. The revenue generated by the Plant, Protection and Quarantine Program from import permit, export certificate, inspection and commodity treatment services fees, and the estimated Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) annual revenue generated by the Plant Nursery from the sale of vegetables, fruits and other tree seedlings, and grafting, air layering and seed propagation fees are all currently being deposited into the General Fund. Budget constraints, coupled with a reprioritization of Department needs, have resulted in the poor delivery of services to the communities served by the Divisions. Thus, there is a need to create revolving funds for the respective programs to allow them direct access to funds, however meager, they generate. This legislation will ensure that these agricultural programs operate efficiently and, more importantly, deliver the kind and level of service which the public rightfully expects and deserves.