Senate adopts first substitute for SB15 to create $2 organ-donation contribution and online registry

The Utah Senate on Jan. 21 adopted the first substitute for Senate Bill 15, establishing an organ-donation contribution fund and authorizing a statewide online donor registry and transplant-education program. Sponsor Senator Katrina Hale (as named in the transcript) said the substitute changes the statutory reference from an "account" to a "fund," raises the voluntary checkoff from $1 to $2 and directs that administrative costs for collecting the contributions be paid from the fund.

Senator Hale told colleagues that the registry will allow license- and registration-holders to record donation preferences in more detail (major organs, tissues, live-donor options and cornea donations) and that the registry will be implemented in the spring. "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just granted Utah $1,600,000 for the initial upstart of the registry," she said on the floor. Sponsors said the Tax Commission indicated there is ample room on current forms to add the contribution checkoff and that the substitute therefore carried no fiscal note from that agency.

Senators asked about overlaps with existing checkoffs (for example, the Kurt Oskarsen Fund) and whether adding checkoffs dilutes contributions to long-standing items. Senator Hale said the registry is new and that administrative costs would be taken from the fund; she offered to provide figures on how much other checkoffs have raised. The Senate adopted the first substitute by voice vote, then read SB15 for the third time; the roll-call record showed unanimous support (28 ayes, one absent) and the bill moved to the third-reading calendar.