Legislative council approves amendment to draft 6‑11, removes MAGI reference and sets 225% poverty cap

The legislative council approved an amended version of bill 6‑11 on a unanimous roll call after reviewing draft 2.1, which removes a reference to modified adjusted gross income and replaces it with a household income cap set at 225% of the federal poverty level.

Jen Kirby of the Office of Legislative Council presented draft 2.1 and said she had sent the version to editing for minor grammatical and formatting changes. "This is the language from health care advocate," Kirby said, and explained the amendment "strikes the reference to the household income being calculated using modified adjusted gross income or MAGI, as defined in the federal tax code" and instead specifies a household income "not greater than 225% of the federal poverty level." Kirby added that the edits "don't change the eligibility itself" but remove the MAGI reference.

Council members asked no substantive questions before an unidentified member moved to approve the draft as amended. The motion received a second and the clerk called roll. Bernie Chan and the members who responded — including Wendy Kritcheff, Alan Demarack, Lee Goldberg, Laurie Hovland, Aaron Meggers, Deborah Powers, Valerie Taylor, a speaker identified as "Cindy from Becca," and Frances McFarlane — answered "Yes." An unidentified speaker recorded the measure as "favorable with amendment."

The presentation also noted structural edits: section 1 remained unchanged, section 2 repealed a provision referenced in the transcript as "3 40 b," and the remaining sections were renumbered; staff said editorial changes and final proofreading would follow before the draft is finalized. The council concluded the item and indicated the recorded proceedings will be edited and archived.

The council did not discuss further programmatic details, implementation timelines, or fiscal estimates during the session; those items were not specified in the transcript.