05/04/2005 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES

                                                                                                                                
            CSHB 214(HES)-ANATOMICAL GIFTS & REGISTRY                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR DYSON announced that HB 214 was up for consideration.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
VANESSA TONDINI, staff to Representative McGuire, sponsor of HB
, said:                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
     Last year Representative  McGuire passed the Anatomical                                                                    
     Gifts Registry Bill that created  a central registry so                                                                    
     that when  you go to DMV  and you can request  to be an                                                                    
     organ  donor.  That information  would  be  put into  a                                                                    
     central  database  where  it   would  actually  make  a                                                                    
     difference.  So, if  and when  something did  happen to                                                                    
     you, this information  could get linked up  then to the                                                                    
     organ recipient.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     And  since  that  bill  has  passed,  it  has  come  to                                                                    
     Representative  McGuire's attention  that there  were a                                                                    
     few  definitions that  needed  to  be corrected,  which                                                                    
     this  bill  does.  One  is  the  definition  of  "organ                                                                    
     procurement  organization" and  we changed  that to  be                                                                    
     more inclusive to  allow Life Alaska, which  is our in-                                                                    
     state  donation   program,  to   have  access   to  the                                                                    
     database.   Also,   it   expands  the   definition   of                                                                    
     "technician"  to   accurately  reflect  that   not  all                                                                    
     technicians that would be  harvesting this material are                                                                    
     necessarily licensed by the State Medical Board.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     Also, it  expands the notification requirements  and we                                                                    
     also  worked with  the EMTs  to insure  that they  were                                                                    
     happy and comfortable with what's being asked of them.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     Then  it just  clears up  some inconsistencies  between                                                                    
     federal regulations and state laws.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR OLSON asked why technicians who are harvesting organs                                                                   
don't have to be licensed.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
BRUCE  ZALNERAITIS, Executive  Director, Life  Alaska, said  that                                                               
while organs  must be harvested  by transplant surgeons  or teams                                                               
in  transplant  facilities,  skin grafts,  retinal  tissue,  bone                                                               
grafts and tissues  of that sort can be  harvested by technicians                                                               
who are not physicians.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR ELTON moved to report  SCS CSSB 214(STA) out of committee                                                               
with individual recommendations and  attached fiscal notes. There                                                               
were no objections it was so ordered.