HB 252-LEAVE FOR ORGAN/BONE MARROW DONATIONS  CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the consideration of HB 252. [Before the committee was CSHB 252(STA).] 10:36:12 AM REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE LEDOUX, Alaska State Legislature, said HB 252 requires paid leave from state employment for organ and bone marrow donations. The employer is not required to provide more than 80 hours of leave and it may not be less than 40 hours unless the employee asks for less. Fewer than 100 people in Alaska are waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Matching is rare; about 1 match in 100,000 people is typical. 30 states have already passed this kind of law. SENATOR STEVENS asked what the requirements are to make such a donation and how much time it takes. 10:39:05 AM BRUCE ZALNERAITIS, Chief Executive Officer, Life Alaska Donor Services, Anchorage, spoke in support of HB 252. He explained that a donor for a kidney transplant first is evaluated medically. Next they donate blood for matching, typing and compatibility. The process may take up to 3 months but doesn't require time away from work. The surgery to donate the kidney takes a few hours, the hospital recovery period is about a week, and more recovery time may be required at home. On average two weeks is more than enough time for most people to recover. BERNADETTE ANTON, National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN, said for bone marrow donations the initial screening is done over the phone. After that blood samples are drawn and a physical examination is done. That takes up to a day from work depending on location and travel times. The donation can happen in two different ways. One is giving peripheral blood stem cells. For that the donor receives four days of injections and then the donation is made. The injections can make a person ill and they may not feel like going to work. Peripheral blood stem cell donation could take from 2 to 5 days for the actual donation so the 40 hours is reasonable. The other method is marrow collection. That surgical procedure takes a day in the operating room and from 1 to 5 days recovery at home. Most marrow donors aren't away from work for more than a week. If a person does heavy labor they might need more time. The 80 hours for marrow donation is very generous and probably wouldn't all be used unless the donor had unusual complications. 10:43:04 AM SENATOR STEVENS it is good to encourage people to become donors. He summarized that leave time for evaluation and other preliminary work wouldn't be necessary but there would be some recovery time after the actual kidney donation and bone marrow collection. SONYA HYMER, Staff to Representative LeDoux, said the current version of the bill would permit paid administrative leave for the screening process. 10:44:10 AM SENATOR STEVENS asked for an explanation of the screening process. MS. HYMER said there would be some testing to determine compatibility. She deferred more technical details to the experts. MS. ANTON said when bone marrow donors are recruited onto the registry the initial screening is done. That time wouldn't fall under this bill in her view. Once the person is a potential match for a recipient, they would be called for additional testing at a physician's office, a lab or a donor center. It would not take a whole day unless excessive travel time was required. Her reading is that time would fall under the bill. Before she neglected to mention that a donor giving marrow might have to give a natalogist unit of blood prior to the donation and that could take a portion of a day depending on where the donor had to go. Then there is the actual donation procedure that she described. 10:45:46 AM SENATOR STEVENS said this sounds like it could be painful or life-threatening and isn't something people would do to get time off from work. MS. ANTON agreed; donors are really dedicated and want to help another individual have a better life. SENATOR FRENCH pointed out the series of zero fiscal notes indicating that there will be an extremely small number of people who will take advantage of this. SENATOR FRENCH moved to report CSHB 252(STA) from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note(s). There being no objection, the bill moved from committee.