I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5436
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against
gross income for organ donation.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 10, 2000
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a
credit against gross income for organ donation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Organ Procure-
ment Expand Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) 13 people die every day waiting for a life-
saving transplant operation;
(2) over 67,000 people are currently waiting for
a transplant operation—including over 44,000 kid-
ney patients, 14,000 liver patients, 4,000 lung pa-
tients, and 800 pancreas patients;
(3) every 14 minutes, a new name is added to
the national transplant waiting list;
(4) between 10,000 and 12,000 people die an-
nually who are considered medically suitable for
organ donation, yet only an estimated 5,200 people
donate their organs every year;
(5) one donor can help more than 50 people in
need of an organ;
(6) current programs designed to expand the
number of available organs do not contain any eco-
nomic awards or incentives for patients to become
organ donors; and
(7) current debates in Congress and in the Ad-
ministration have unfortunately focused on the way
organs ought to be allocated, rather than addressing
the root cause of the problem, which is a lack of
available transplant organs.
SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR ORGAN DONATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is
amended by inserting after section 30A the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 25B. ORGAN DONATION.
‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE
OF CREDIT.—In the case of a
qualified person, there shall be allowed as a credit against
the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year with
respect to all qualified organ donations an amount equal
to $2,500.
‘‘(b) QUALIFIED ORGAN DONATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘qualified organ donation’ means the
donation of a kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, pancreas
islet cells, lung, or intestine.
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘qualified organ
donation’ shall not include the donation of an organ
under any of the following circumstances:
‘‘(A) The donor has been killed with assist-
ance from a physician.
‘‘(B) The otherwise eligible individual has
authorized the withdrawal or denial of life sus-
taining medical treatment of the donor.
‘‘(C) The otherwise eligible individual
medically conducted or assisted in the operation
to recover the organ.
‘‘(D) The organs to be donated come from
an unborn child or human fetus that was abort-
ed.
‘‘(E) The donor has committed suicide.
‘‘(F) Legal consent failed to be obtained
from the donor or their family prior to the
organ recovery.
‘‘(G) The otherwise eligible individual has
been indicted or convicted of a felony or a mis-
demeanor offense against the donor, or is ac-
tively under criminal investigation for the pos-
sible felony offense against the donor.
‘‘(H) In the case of living donors, the deci-
sion to donate the organ, in the judgment of
the donor’s attending physicians, would subject
the donor to unacceptable levels of medical risk
of death or permanent debilitation.
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED PERSON.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘qualified person’ means—
‘‘(1) in the case of a live organ donor, the
organ donor himself, and
‘‘(2) in the case of a deceased organ donor—
‘‘(A) the beneficiary designated for pur-
poses of this section,
‘‘(B) the estate in the case the deceased
organ donor died testate but without desig-
nating a beneficiary for the purposes of this
section, or
‘‘(C) the class of beneficiaries designated
under State law in the case that the deceased
organ donor died intestate.
‘‘(d) ALLOCATION
OF
CREDIT
AMOUNT
AMONG
BENEFICIARIES.—In the case that more than 1 person is
a beneficiary under subsection (c), the amount allowed
under subsection (a) shall be divided among each of the
beneficiaries on a pro rata basis unless—
‘‘(1) the will of the deceased organ donor pro-
vides for a different allocation, or
‘‘(2) the beneficiaries agree to a different allo-
cation.
‘‘(e) CARRYFORWARDS OF UNUSED CREDIT.—If the
credit allowable under subsection (a) for any taxable year
exceeds the limitation imposed by section 26(a) for such
taxable year reduced by the sum of the credits allowable
under this subpart (other than this section, section 23,
and section 1400C), such excess shall be carried to the
succeeding taxable year and added to the credit allowable
under subsection (a) for such taxable year. For purposes