02/11/2014 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES

                   HJR 20-MEDICAL DEVICE TAX                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
3:06:16 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR HIGGINS  announced that the  first order of  business would                                                               
be HOUSE  JOINT RESOLUTION  NO. 20, Urging  the President  of the                                                               
United  States  and the  United  States  Congress to  repeal  the                                                               
excise tax on medical devices.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
3:07:09 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  BOB LYNN,  Alaska  State Legislature,  introduced                                                               
HJR 20  as the prime sponsor  of the bill and  explained that the                                                               
medical  device  tax  was  part of  the  Patient  Protection  and                                                               
Affordable  Care Act.   He  questioned whether  pacemakers, heart                                                               
stents,  artificial hips,  and, he  opined, some  forms of  birth                                                               
control, should be required to pay  an extra 2.3 percent tax.  He                                                               
declared that  he was  not in agreement  with this,  offering his                                                               
opinion that  most other people would  not support this tax.   He                                                               
read:                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     The medical device tax  will substantially increase the                                                                    
     already high cost of medical  care by some $3.7 billion                                                                    
     per year.  That money, that  tax, the cost of that will                                                                    
     be passed  down from  the medical device  developers to                                                                    
     manufacturers to health  care providers, and ultimately                                                                    
     to  consumers  like  us,  and like  every  one  of  our                                                                    
     constituents.  The medical device  tax takes direct aim                                                                    
     at  American innovation,  by punishing  researchers and                                                                    
     high tech  bio-medical manufacturers, which any  one of                                                                    
     us  or our  constituents may  need some  day.   Why tax                                                                    
     life  saving devices?   This  tax is  anti-business and                                                                    
     this tax is bad for  patients.  This resolution sends a                                                                    
     strong  message to  Congress and  to  the President  to                                                                    
     eliminate this tax.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN  asked that the committee  support passage of                                                               
the proposed resolution.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
3:09:15 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR HIGGINS opened  public testimony, and there  being none, he                                                               
closed public testimony.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
3:09:55 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE TARR, directing  attention to page 1,  line 16, of                                                               
the  proposed  resolution, which  read:    "Whereas thousands  of                                                               
layoffs in  the United  States have  already occurred  because of                                                               
the medical device  tax," asked for a specific number  and if any                                                               
Alaska businesses had been impacted by this excise tax.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
3:10:34 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
NICK  LEWIS,   Staff,  Representative  Bob  Lynn,   Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature, in  response to Representative  Tarr, said  "I don't                                                               
have an answer to that right now."                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
3:10:48 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER  moved to  report HJR  20 out  of committee                                                               
with  individual  recommendations  and  the  accompanying  fiscal                                                               
notes.  There being no objection, it was so ordered.