HB 214-ANATOMICAL GIFTS CHAIR SEATON announced that the first order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 214, "An Act relating to anatomical gifts and the anatomical gift donor registry program." The committee took an at-ease from 8:03:43 AM to 8:03:54 AM. 8:03:57 AM REPRESENTATIVE LESIL McGUIRE, Alaska State Legislature, as sponsor of HB 214, explained that the bill would make a technical correction to a broader bill that last year's House State Affairs Standing Committee passed, which created an anatomical gift registry in Alaska. She stated for the record that the registry has been successful. The proposed legislation would expand the definitions in last year's bill. She said that unwittingly a definition was adopted which left out "our only organ and tissue bank here in the state of Alaska." The bill would also clear up some inconsistencies between federal rulings and state laws. 8:05:34 AM REPRESENTATIVE LYNN emphasized his support of the bill. He produced his driver's license, which shows that he is an organ donor. He stated his concern that [there be] no organ donations from any aborted fetuses or from any early induction fetuses with abnormalities incompatible with life. He said he has been told by Representative McGuire's staff that there may be a federal law that addresses that. He said, "I have some information that may be at odds with that, but this is not something that I want to take ... the time [to address currently]." He restated his support of the bill and said he would probably formulate an amendment. He added, "And we can address this during the interim between this committee and the next committee of referral." 8:07:51 AM REPRESENTATIVE GATTO directed attention to page 2, line 26, and noted that the effort had been made to change "[MUST]" to "shall". He asked if there is a legal or grammatical definition that is different for each of those words. 8:08:34 AM REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE responded, "It's a drafting choice." She added that it doesn't seem like much of a difference to her, but in many of the legislative bills that have passed through the House Judiciary Standing Committee, the move has been to change the word to "shall". 8:08:43 AM REPRESENTATIVE GATTO directed attention to page 3, line 15, which provides the definition of "technician". He said he is happy to see the definition in the bill. He offered further details. 8:09:17 AM REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE stated for the record that she appreciated Representative Gatto's comments last year [that lead to the definition]. She added, "In fact, the definition was too restrictive." 8:09:34 AM REPRESENTATIVE RAMRAS emphasized that this is about organ donors, not fetuses. 8:10:11 AM REPRESENTATIVE LYNN responded that it's a matter of definitions. 8:10:56 AM CHAIR SEATON closed public testimony. 8:11:04 AM REPRESENTATIVE ELKINS moved to report HB 214 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objections, HB 214 was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.