HJR 35-CONST AM: HEALTH CARE  3:09:43 PM CO-CHAIR HERRON announced that the first order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 35, Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska prohibiting passage of laws that interfere with direct payments for health care services and the right to purchase health care insurance from a privately owned company, and that compel a person to participate in a health care system. 3:11:17 PM DEREK MILLER, Staff to Representative Mike Kelly, Alaska State Legislature, explained that HJR 35 "gave Alaskans the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment prohibiting the passage of laws that would force any person or employer to participate in a particular health care system." He added that similar resolutions had been introduced in 36 other states. He reported that HJR 35 would protect a person's right to participate or not in any health care system, and would prohibit the government from imposing a fine for that decision. It would also protect both a person's right to purchase, and a doctor's right to provide, lawful medical services without government fines or penalties. He explained that this would be placed on the ballot of the next general election for inclusion to the Constitution of the State of Alaska. He directed attention to the Memorandum [Included in committee packets.] which answered questions which arose during a prior committee hearing. MR. MILLER paraphrased the Memorandum. Referring to question one, he said that HJR 35 did not prevent Alaska from initiating a new retirement tier, as long as health insurance was not mandatory, and individuals were not fined for choosing not to participate in the health care system. Discussing question two, he explained that this resolution did not preclude the federal government from making changes to health care programs, it simply protected the right not to participate. Addressing the third question, he said that HJR 35 prevented a universal coverage system, but added that Alaska legislators would work on a targeted set of policy solutions for the uninsured. With regard to question four, he relayed that any federal government program that mandated individuals to purchase insurance would not be adopted by the Alaska legislature. Responding to question five, he stated that HJR 35 prevented the state from implementing a plan that penalized employee and employers for not purchasing health insurance. 3:15:35 PM CO-CHAIR HERRON, noting a possible increase to the fiscal note, asked for a clarification. MR. MILLER responded that this was the same fiscal note as other constitutional amendments. CO-CHAIR HERRON asked for this to be answered in the House Finance Committee. MR. MILLER replied that he did not expect the increase to be necessary. 3:16:45 PM CO-CHAIR KELLER relayed that the Goldwater Institute had offered to defend the constitutionality for this amendment at no cost to the state. 3:17:16 PM CHRISTIE HERRERA, Director, Health and Human Services Task Force, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), testified that ALEC supported HJR 35 and that she was available to answer any questions. 3:17:56 PM CO-CHAIR HERRON opened public testimony. Seeing no one, Co-Chair Herron closed public testimony. 3:18:17 PM CO-CHAIR KELLER moved to report HJR 35 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HJR 35 was reported from the House Health and Social Services Standing Committee. 3:19:06 PM The committee took a brief at-ease. 3:19:41 PM CO-CHAIR HERRON brought the committee back to order.