Opinion ID: 1968529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Unconstitutional Vagueness and Delegation of Power

Text: [¶ 9] The 1995 Amendments authorize the Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to impose per-tag fees to cover the costs of a tag system to identify and track traps, 12 M.R.S.A. §§ 6431-B, 6431-C, as well as the costs of establishing lobster management zones and lobster management policy councils. 12 M.R.S.A. §§ 6446, 6447. Daley contends that these provisions are void for vagueness and constitute an improper delegation of the taxation power. See Me. Const. art. IX, § 9 (The Legislature shall never, in any manner, suspend or surrender the power of taxation.). These arguments are unpersuasive. There is nothing unconstitutionally vague about the provision that empowers DMR to impose a fee to defray the costs of administering its regulatory program. Moreover, because the fee is designed to pay for administrative costs and not to raise general revenue, the Legislature did not improperly delegate its power to tax to the DMR. Board of Bar Overseers v. Lee, 422 A.2d 998, 1004 (Me.1980), appeal dismissed, 450 U.S. 1036, 101 S.Ct. 1751, 68 L.Ed.2d 233 (1981) (distinguishing between a tax designed to raise revenue and license fees imposed to cover costs of program administration pursuant to the government's police power to regulate); Strater v. Town of York, 541 A.2d 938, 938 (Me.1988) (same principle in context of harbor usage fee). The entry is: Judgment affirmed.