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Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the summary and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §264  is enacted to read:
§ 264. Living kidney donor grant program
 
1.  Program established.     The living kidney donor grant program, referred to in this section as "the program," is established to encourage living kidney donation by removing financial barriers for living kidney donors. The program must make grants available to living kidney donors to cover lost wages and unreimbursed travel, lodging and medical expenses of the donor associated with the kidney donation. A living kidney donor may be awarded a grant under this section of not more than $5,000. For purposes of this section, "living kidney donor" means an individual who is not deceased from whom a kidney is removed for transplant to another individual.
 
2.  Funding.     The department shall contract with an entity that is best suited to administer this program. Administration of the program includes determining eligibility for the grants and disbursing grants directly to living kidney donors. The department may disburse funds appropriated or allocated to the program to the entity with which it has contracted to administer the program. The department shall contract with the entity for administration of the living kidney donor grant program under this section as long as funding is available. As a condition of disbursing funds to the entity with which it has contracted to administer the program, the department may require that entity to provide to the department a report about the activities and services provided by the program.
 
3.  Report.     Every 2 years beginning January 1, 2019, the department shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters on the activities and services of the program.
Sec. 2. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
 
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF (FORMERLY DHS)
 
Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention 0143
 
Initiative: Provides funding to contract for an entity to administer and provide education about the living kidney donor grant program.

GENERAL FUND	2017-18	2018-19	
All Other	$30,000	$30,000	
			
GENERAL FUND TOTAL	$30,000	$30,000	

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention 0143
 
Initiative: Provides funding to establish a grant program to encourage living kidney donation.

GENERAL FUND	2017-18	2018-19	
All Other	$75,000	$75,000	
			
GENERAL FUND TOTAL	$75,000	$75,000	

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF (FORMERLY DHS)			
DEPARTMENT TOTALS	2017-18	2018-19	
			
GENERAL FUND	$105,000	$105,000	
			
DEPARTMENT TOTAL - ALL FUNDS	$105,000	$105,000	
 
’
 
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, directs the Department of Health and Human Services to contract with an entity to administer a grant program to encourage living kidney donation. It provides that the department may disburse funds for the program to the entity and may condition disbursement of those funds on the entity's providing a report about the activities and services provided by the program. It provides that, every 2 years beginning January 1, 2019, the department must report on the activities and services of the program to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)