Legislature(2023 - 2024)
2024-03-20 House Journal
Full Journal pdf2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1871 HB 17 The following, which was returned to the Rules Committee (page 1285), was read the second time: HOUSE BILL NO. 17 "An Act relating to insurance coverage for contraceptives and 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1872 related services; relating to medical assistance coverage for contraceptives and related services; and providing for an effective date." with the: Journal Page HSS RPT CS(HSS) 3DP 2NR 340 FN1: ZERO(ADM) 340 FN2: ZERO(CED) 340 FN3: ZERO(DOH) 340 CRA RPT CS(HSS) 5DP 1NR 443 FN2: ZERO(CED) 443 FN4: ZERO(ADM) 443 FN5: ZERO(DOH) 443 L&C RPT CS(HSS) 2DP 3NR 537 FN1: ZERO(ADM) 537 FN2: ZERO(CED) 537 FN3: ZERO(DOH) 537 FN4: ZERO(ADM) 537 FN5: ZERO(DOH) 537 The Rules Committee submitted the following updated fiscal notes: 6. Zero, Dept. of Administration 7. Zero, Dept. of Commerce, Community, & Economic Development 8. Zero, Dept. of Health Representative Saddler moved and asked unanimous consent that the following committee substitute be adopted in lieu of the original bill: CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 17(HSS) (same title) Representative Eastman objected and withdrew the objection. There being no further objection, CSHB 17(HSS) was adopted. Amendment No. 1 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 3, line 18, following "pregnancy": Insert "; "prescription contraceptive" does not include an abortion- 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1873 inducing drug or a drug or device that has a mechanism of action that destroys the life of an early-developing human embryo" Page 7, line 8, following "pregnancy": Insert "; "prescription contraceptive" does not include an abortion- inducing drug or a drug or device that has a mechanism of action that destroys the life of an early-developing human embryo" Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 1 be adopted. Representative Carrick objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 1 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) Second Reading Amendment No. 1 YEAS: 18 NAYS: 22 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Allard, Carpenter, Coulombe, Cronk, Eastman, D.Johnson, McKay, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Shaw, Stapp, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance, Wright Nays: Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, Josephson, McCabe, McCormick, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Schrage, Story, Stutes And so, Amendment No. 1 was not adopted. Amendment No. 2 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 1, line 1, following "Act" (title amendment): Insert "relating to Board of Pharmacy disciplinary sanctions;" Page 1, following line 4: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Section 1. AS 08.80.261 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: (c) The board may not impose disciplinary sanctions on a 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1874 licensee for refusing to fill a prescription contraceptive on moral or religious grounds. In this subsection, "prescription contraceptive" has the meaning given in AS 21.42.427." Page 1, line 5: Delete "Section 1" Insert "Sec. 2" Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 7, line 14: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 17: Delete "Section 6" Insert "Section 7" Page 7, line 21: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 23: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 29: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 30: Delete "sec. 8(b)" Insert "sec. 9(b)" Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 2 be adopted. Representative Carrick objected. 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1875 The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 2 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) Second Reading Amendment No. 2 YEAS: 13 NAYS: 27 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Allard, Carpenter, Cronk, Eastman, D.Johnson, McCabe, Rauscher, Shaw, Stapp, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance Nays: Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Coulombe, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, Josephson, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Prax, Ruffridge, Saddler, Schrage, Story, Stutes, Wright And so, Amendment No. 2 was not adopted. Amendment Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 were not offered. Amendment No. 7 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 3, line 17: Delete the first occurrence of "and" Insert "," Page 3, line 18: Delete "pregnancy" Insert "conception, and does not include a component that is intended to harm a developing embryo" Page 7, line 7: Delete the first occurrence of "and" Insert "," Page 7, line 8: Delete "pregnancy" Insert "conception, and does not include a component that is intended to harm a developing embryo" Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 7 be adopted. 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1876 Representative Carrick objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 7 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) Second Reading Amendment No. 7 YEAS: 18 NAYS: 22 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Allard, Carpenter, Coulombe, Cronk, Eastman, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, McCabe, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Shaw, Stapp, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance Nays: Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, Josephson, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Schrage, Story, Stutes, Wright And so, Amendment No. 7 was not adopted. Amendment No. 8 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 2, following line 5: Insert new subsections to read: "(b) A health care insurer shall provide the ability to opt out of the coverage required under (a) of this subsection to (1) a primary insured for all persons covered under a health care insurance plan; (2) an employer that provides a health care insurance plan in the group market; and (3) an insured. (c) A health care insurer may provide a benefit to an insured or employer that opts out of the coverage required under (a) of this subsection." Reletter the following subsections accordingly. Page 2, line 9: Delete "(d)" Insert "(f)" 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1877 Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 8 be adopted. Representative Stapp objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 8 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) Second Reading Amendment No. 8 YEAS: 3 NAYS: 37 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Carpenter, Eastman, Tomaszewski Nays: Allard, Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Coulombe, Cronk, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, Josephson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Schrage, Shaw, Stapp, Story, Stutes, Sumner, Tilton, Vance, Wright And so, Amendment No. 8 was not adopted. Amendment No. 9 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 2, line 5, following "dispensing": Insert "; (3) provide an insured the ability to opt out of the coverage required under (1) of this subsection; the health care insurer may provide a benefit to an insured that opts out of the coverage required under (1) of this subsection" Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 9 be adopted. Representative Stapp objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 9 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) Second Reading Amendment No. 9 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1878 YEAS: 5 NAYS: 35 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Allard, Carpenter, Eastman, Rauscher, Tomaszewski Nays: Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Coulombe, Cronk, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, Josephson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Prax, Ruffridge, Saddler, Schrage, Shaw, Stapp, Story, Stutes, Sumner, Tilton, Vance, Wright And so, Amendment No. 9 was not adopted. Amendment Nos. 10 and 11 were not offered. Amendment No. 12 was offered by Representative Vance: Page 3, following line 18: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Sec. 2. AS 21.96 is amended by adding a new section to read: Sec. 21.96.205. Coverage that burdens person's religious practices. (a) When enforcing state law concerning a person's health care or health care insurance coverage in a manner that burdens a person's religious practices, the state must demonstrate that enforcement is (1) in furtherance of a compelling government interest; and (2) the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. (b) In this section, "person" includes a business entity, organization, and natural person." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Representative Vance moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 12 be adopted. Representative Carrick objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 12 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1879 CSHB 17(HSS) Second Reading Amendment No. 12 YEAS: 22 NAYS: 18 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Allard, Baker, Carpenter, Coulombe, Cronk, Eastman, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, McCabe, McKay, Ortiz, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Shaw, Stapp, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance, Wright Nays: Armstrong, Carrick, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, Josephson, McCormick, Mears, Mina, Schrage, Story, Stutes Ortiz changed from "NAY" to "YEA" And so, Amendment No. 12 was adopted. Representative McCabe moved and asked unanimous consent to set an amendment deadline of 12:45 p.m., today for CSHB 17(HSS) am. There being no objection, it was so ordered. Amendment No. 13 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 1, following line 4: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to read: LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The legislature finds that (1) regardless of the type of hormonal contraceptive, there is a significant increase in the risk of breast cancer associated with hormonal contraceptive use; the risk of breast cancer increases by (A) 23 percent if the contraceptive last prescribed was an oral preparation containing estrogen and progestogen combined; (B) 26 percent if the contraceptive last prescribed was an oral preparation containing only progestogen; (C) 25 percent if the contraceptive last prescribed was an injected progestogen; and (D) 32 percent if the contraceptive last prescribed was a progestogen-releasing intrauterine device; (2) while the increased risk of breast cancer associated with oral contraceptive use declines after discontinuing use, the risk of breast cancer increases by 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1880 (A) 33 percent if the contraceptive was last prescribed within the year; (B) 17 percent if the contraceptive was last prescribed between one to four years ago; and (C) 15 percent if the contraceptive was last prescribed five or more years ago; (3) when the findings for progestogen-only contraceptives were combined with the findings of previously published studies, there was an increased risk of breast cancer in current and recent users of four types of progestogen-only preparations; the risk of breast cancer was shown to increase by (A) 29 percent for oral preparations containing progestogen; (B) 18 percent for injected preparations containing progestogen; (C) 28 percent for implanted preparations containing progestogen; and (D) 21 percent for progestogen-releasing intrauterine devices; (4) it is estimated that eight out of every 100,000 women between 16 and 20 years of age who have used oral contraceptives for a period of five years will develop breast cancer, and that figure increases to 265 out of every 100,000 women for women between 35 and 39 years of age." Page 1, line 5: Delete "Section 1" Insert "Sec. 2" Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 7, line 14: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 17: Delete "Section 6" Insert "Section 7" 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1881 Page 7, line 21: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 23: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 29: Delete "sec. 6" Insert "sec. 7" Page 7, line 30: Delete "sec. 8(b)" Insert "sec. 9(b)" Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 13 be adopted. Representative Carrick objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 13 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) am Second Reading Amendment No. 13 YEAS: 5 NAYS: 35 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Carpenter, Eastman, Rauscher, Tilton, Tomaszewski Nays: Allard, Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Coulombe, Cronk, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, Josephson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Prax, Ruffridge, Saddler, Schrage, Shaw, Stapp, Story, Stutes, Sumner, Vance, Wright And so, Amendment No. 13 was not adopted. Amendment No. 14 was offered by Representative Eastman: 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1882 Page 1, following line 8: Insert "(1) offer a plan option that" Page 1, line 9: Delete "(1) provide" Insert "(A) provides" Page 1, line 10: Delete "(A)" Insert "(i)" Page 1, line 11: Delete "(B)" Insert "(ii)" Page 1, line 14: Delete "paragraph" Insert "subparagraph" Page 2, line 1: Delete "(2) reimburse" Insert "(B) reimburses" Page 2, line 5, following "dispensing": Insert "; (2) offer a plan option that does not include the coverage provided under (1) of this subsection." Page 2, line 6: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Page 2, line 10: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Page 2, line 11: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1883 Page 2, line 13: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Page 2, line 17: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Page 2, line 21: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Page 2, line 31: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Page 3, line 1: Delete "a health care insurance plan" Insert "the plan option" Page 3, line 10: Delete "(a)" Insert "(a)(1)" Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 14 be adopted. Representative Stapp objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 14 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: CSHB 17(HSS) am Second Reading Amendment No. 14 YEAS: 6 NAYS: 34 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Allard, Carpenter, Eastman, Rauscher, Tilton, Tomaszewski Nays: Armstrong, Baker, Carrick, Coulombe, Cronk, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, Josephson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Prax, Ruffridge, Saddler, Schrage, Shaw, Stapp, Story, Stutes, Sumner, Vance, Wright 2024-03-20 House Journal Page 1884 And so, Amendment No. 14 was not adopted. Amendment No. 15 was offered by Representative Eastman: Page 3, line 2, following "dependents.": Insert "However, the insurer shall make coverage of prescription contraceptives contingent on notification of the primary insured before a minor or dependent is administered or dispensed prescription contraceptives." Representative Eastman moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 15 be adopted. There was objection. The Speaker stated that, without objection, the House would recess to 4:30 p.m.; and so, the House recessed at 12:49 p.m.