00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 36                                                                                           
01 Supporting Gift of Life Congressional Medals.                                                                           
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03  WHEREAS, on October 3, 1994, Senator Frank Murkowski and 31 cosponsors                                                 
04 introduced S. 2495 in the United States Congress, a bill that would authorize the awarding of                           
05 Gift of Life Congressional Medals to organ and tissue donors or to the families of the donors;                          
06 and                                                                                                                     
07  WHEREAS  the medals would commemorate organ and tissue donors and their                                                
08 families, recognize their compassion and courage, and encourage others to make similar                                  
09 sacrifices; and                                                                                                         
10  WHEREAS each day in the United States eight Americans on organ transplant lists                                        
11 die because of a lack of organ donations, and every 20 minutes another name is added to the                             
12 list of those persons awaiting transplants; and                                                                         
13  WHEREAS by recognizing the generosity of donors and their families, the medals                                         
14 may increase the number of organ and tissue donations by encouraging the donation of organs                             

01 and tissue, and may save lives as well as money; thousands of beneficiaries have been                                   
02 removed from Medicare's end stage renal disease program after successful kidney transplants,                            
03 but 20,000 patients remain on dialysis at a cost of $390,000,000 a year in federal Medicare                             
04 dollars;                                                                                                                
05  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the awarding of Gift                                         
06 of Life Congressional Medals, and urges the United States Congress and the President of the                             
07 United States to support and enact S. 2495.                                                                             
08  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
09 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            
10 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S.                                     
11 Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                  
12 Honorable Robert Dole, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens                             
13 and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                     
14 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.