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ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6069
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State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1992 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Snyder, Conner, Wojahn, West, L. Smith, M. Kreidler, Talmadge, Rasmussen, Johnson, Gaspard and Skratek)
Read first time 02/07/92.
AN ACT Relating to bone marrow transplants; adding new sections to chapter 70.54 RCW; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that an estimated sixteen thousand American children and adults are stricken each year with leukemia, aplastic anemia, or other fatal blood diseases. For many of these individuals, bone marrow transplantation is the only chance for survival. Nearly seventy percent cannot find a suitable bone marrow match within their own families. The chance that a patient will find a matching, unrelated donor in the general population is between one in a hundred and one in a million.
The legislature further finds that because tissue types are inherited, and different tissue types are found in different ethnic groups, the chances of finding an unrelated donor vary according to the patient's ethnic and racial background. Patients from minority groups are therefore less likely to find matching, unrelated donors.
It is the intent of the legislature to establish a state-wide bone marrow donor education and recruitment program in order to increase the number of Washington residents who become bone marrow donors, and to increase the chance that patients in need of bone marrow transplants will find a suitable bone marrow match.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The department of health shall establish a bone marrow donor recruitment and education program to educate residents of the state about:
(1) The need for bone marrow donors;
(2) The procedures required to become registered as a potential bone marrow donor, including procedures for determining a person's tissue type; and
(3) The procedures a donor must undergo to donate bone marrow or other sources of blood stem cells.
The department of health shall make special efforts to educate and recruit citizens from minority populations to volunteer as potential bone marrow donors. Means of communication may include use of press, radio, and television, and placement of educational materials in appropriate health care facilities, blood banks, and state and local agencies. The department of health in conjunction with the department of licensing shall make educational materials available at all places where driver licenses are issued or renewed.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department of health shall make special efforts to educate and recruit state employees to volunteer as potential bone marrow donors. Such efforts shall include, but not be limited to, conducting a bone marrow donor drive to encourage state employees to volunteer as potential bone marrow donors. The drive shall include educational materials furnished by the national bone marrow donor program and presentations that explain the need for bone marrow donors, and the procedures for becoming registered as potential bone marrow donors. The cost of educational materials and presentations to state employees shall be borne by the national marrow donor program.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill number, is not provided by June 30, 1992, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act shall be null and void.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Sections 2 and 3 of this act are each added to chapter 70.54 RCW.