00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 178                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to medical debt and consumer credit reporting agencies; relating to                                    
02 discriminatory practices based on the medical debt of a person; and providing for an                                    
03 effective date."                                                                                                        
04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
05    * Section 1. AS 18.80.220(a) is amended to read:                                                                   
06            (a)  Except as provided in (c) of this section, it is unlawful for                                           
07 (1)  an employer to refuse employment to a person, or to bar a person                                                   
08 from employment, or to discriminate against a person in compensation or in a term,                                      
09 condition, or privilege of employment because of the person's race, religion, color, or                                 
10 national origin, because of the person's medical debt, or because of the person's age,                              
11 physical or mental disability, sex, marital status, changes in marital status, pregnancy,                               
12 or parenthood when the reasonable demands of the position do not require distinction                                    
13 on the basis of age, physical or mental disability, sex, marital status, changes in                                     
14       marital status, pregnancy, or parenthood;                                                                         

01 (2)  a labor organization, because of a person's sex, marital status,                                                   
02 changes in marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, age, race, religion, physical or                                      
03 mental disability, color, [OR] national origin, or medical debt, to exclude or to expel                             
04 a person from its membership, or to discriminate in any way against one of its                                          
05       members or an employer or an employee;                                                                            
06 (3)  an employer or employment agency to print or circulate or cause to                                                 
07 be printed or circulated a statement, advertisement, or publication, or to use a form of                                
08 application for employment or to make an inquiry in connection with prospective                                         
09 employment, that expresses, directly or indirectly, a limitation, specification, or                                     
10 discrimination as to sex, physical or mental disability, marital status, changes in                                     
11 marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, age, race, creed, color, [OR] national origin, or                            
12 medical debt, or an intent to make the limitation, unless based on [UPON] a bona fide                           
13       occupational qualification;                                                                                       
14 (4)  an employer, labor organization, or employment agency to                                                           
15 discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate against a person because the person has                                     
16 opposed any practices forbidden under AS 18.80.200 - 18.80.280 or because the                                           
17       person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in a proceeding under this chapter;                          
18 (5)  an employer to discriminate in the payment of wages as between                                                     
19 the sexes, or to employ a female in an occupation in this state at a salary or wage rate                                
20 less than that paid to a male employee for work of comparable character or work in the                                  
21       same operation, business, or type of work in the same locality; or                                                
22 (6)  a person to print, publish, broadcast, or otherwise circulate a                                                    
23 statement, inquiry, or advertisement in connection with prospective employment that                                     
24 expresses directly a limitation, specification, or discrimination as to sex, physical or                                
25 mental disability, marital status, changes in marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, age,                               
26 race, religion, color, [OR] national origin, or medical debt, unless based on [UPON]                            
27       a bona fide occupational qualification.                                                                         
28    * Sec. 2. AS 18.80.240 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                              
29 (b)  It is unlawful for the owner, lessee, manager, or other person having the                                          
30       right to lease or rent residential real property                                                                  
31 (1)  to refuse to lease or rent the real property to a person because of the                                            

01       person's medical debt;                                                                                            
02                 (2)  to discriminate against a person in a term, condition, or privilege                                
03       relating to the use, lease, or rental of the real property because of the person's medical                        
04       debt;                                                                                                             
05                 (3)  to make a written or oral inquiry or record of the medical debt of a                               
06       person seeking to rent or lease the real property;                                                                
07                 (4)  to represent to a person that the real property is not available for                               
08       inspection, rental, or lease when in fact it is so available, or to refuse to allow a person                      
09       to inspect the real property because of the person's medical debt;                                                
10 (5)  to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or                                                       
11 published, any notice, statement, or advertisement with respect to the rental of the real                               
12 property that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on a                                        
13       person's medical debt.                                                                                            
14    * Sec. 3. AS 18.80.300 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read:                                               
15                 (19)  "medical debt" has the meaning given in AS 45.85.800(c).                                          
16    * Sec. 4. AS 45.48 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                   
17                    Article 6A. Miscellaneous Provisions.                                                              
18 Sec. 45.48.800. Medical debt. (a) A medical creditor or medical debt collector                                        
19 may not communicate with or report information to a consumer credit reporting                                           
20 agency regarding a medical debt. If a medical creditor or medical debt collector                                        
21 communicates with or reports information to a consumer credit reporting agency                                          
22 regarding the medical debt of a consumer in violation of this subsection, the                                           
23       consumer's agreement to pay the debt is void and unenforceable.                                                   
24 (b)  A consumer credit reporting agency may not include medical debt in a                                               
25       consumer report or use medical debt to calculate a credit score.                                                  
26            (c)  In this section,                                                                                        
27 (1)  "medical creditor" means an entity that provides health care                                                       
28 services and to whom a consumer owes or, if purchased by a medical debt collector,                                      
29       owed medical debt;                                                                                                
30 (2)  "medical debt" means an obligation for the payment of money                                                        
31 arising out of an agreement or contract, express or implied, for the provision of health                                

01       care services, products, or devices; "medical debt" does not include debt charged to a                            
02       credit card or an extension of credit made by a financial institution to a borrower;                              
03                 (3)  "medical debt collector" means a person that                                                       
04                      (A)  regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or                                        
05            indirectly, medical debt originally owed or due, or asserted to be owed or due,                              
06            to another;                                                                                                  
07                      (B)  purchases medical debt from an entity that provides health                                    
08            care services.                                                                                               
09    * Sec. 5. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).