Panel backs bill to add organ-donor option to voter registration if CORE pays costs

The Senate Committee on Government Organization voted to report House Bill 46-38, which would allow people to register as organ donors when they complete or update voter registration and would direct the Secretary of State to transmit donor records to a national organ-donor registry if reimbursed by the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE).

Counsel explained the bill requires the Secretary of State to provide voter‑registration applicants information about anatomical donation and to collect donor‑registration choices; the collection and transmission duty is conditioned on reimbursement by CORE for creation and administration of a transmission system. Counsel told the committee the Secretary of State is absolved of the duty to collect or provide donor records if not reimbursed.

Senators questioned whether conditioning a state official’s duty on payment is common; counsel said he was not aware of other statutes that condition a state official’s duty on reimbursement. Junior Senator from the Sixteenth asked how this provision compares with DNR and DMV arrangements for donation records and whether the Secretary of State’s language contemplates a fuller registry or greater systems costs.

Scott Cosco of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education testified that CORE has used memoranda of understanding in prior agency implementations and reimbursed hardware and software costs so there is no cost to the state. He said CORE can make similar arrangements with the Secretary of State but could not give an exact dollar figure at the hearing.

After testimony, the vice chair moved reporting the bill and the committee voted to report HB 46-38 to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. The transcript shows voice votes; no roll‑call tally appears in the record.

The bill assigns the Secretary of State a role in donor outreach and requires CORE to reimburse any system costs before the Secretary is required to transmit records.