00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 20                                                                     
01 Urging the President of the United States and the United States Congress to repeal the                                  
02 excise tax on medical devices.                                                                                          
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS a new federal excise tax of 2.3 percent on the sale of taxable medical                                  
05 devices by manufacturers, producers, and importers of those devices took effect January 1,                              
06 2013; and                                                                                                               
07       WHEREAS the medical device tax is imposed on United States sales, rather than                                   
08 profits, of medical device manufacturers, producers, and importers and will be particularly                             
09 damaging to innovative start-up companies; and                                                                          
10       WHEREAS the medical device tax was projected to raise $20,000,000,000, but that                                 
11 estimate has risen to over $30,000,000,000; and                                                                         
12       WHEREAS the medical device tax will substantially increase the cost of health care                              
13 and takes direct aim at American innovation by punishing the researchers and manufacturers                              
14 of devices such as heart stents, pacemakers, patient monitors, artificial hips, limbs, and hearts,                      
15 and a multitude of other medical devices; and                                                                           
16       WHEREAS thousands of layoffs in the United States have already occurred because                                 

01 of the medical device tax; and                                                                                          
02       WHEREAS the medical device tax threatens regional economic vitality, badly needed                               
03 jobs, and patients' hopes for new, life-saving products and treatments; and                                             
04       WHEREAS the repeal of the medical device tax has strong bipartisan support;                                     
05       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the President of the                                     
06 United States and the United States Congress to repeal the excise tax on medical devices.                               
07       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
08 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
09 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                  
10 Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of                                       
11 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                                      
12 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and the Honorable Lisa                                   
13 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                    
14 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.