Provides that authorities having control of a fire department or fire company which provides emergency medical services may establish fees and charges for services.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1778A
SPONSOR: Jones (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the general municipal law and the town
law, in relation to authorizing fees and charges for emergency medical
services
PURPOSE:
The purpose to allow fire departments the option to recover costs when
providing emergency medical services.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. this bill amends subdivision 4 of section 209-b of the Gener-
al Municipal Law to remove the prohibition on a fire department's abili-
ty to recover costs for emergency medical services. Further, this
section provides language to ensure that advanced life support services
are compensated for services rendered.
Section 2. amends subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the General Munici-
pal Law to comply with section 1 of this law.
Section 3. amends subdivision 1 of section 184 of to comply with section
1 of this law. Section 4. is the enacting clause.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently volunteer fire departments and districts that provide emergen-
cy medical services are unable to recover costs for the service that
they provide. In recent years, a variety of factors have placed great
strain on the resources of these services. As a result, many volunteer
fire departments and districts have been forced to stop offering ambu-
lance service to their communities.
New York State is the only state in the union which prohibits fire
departments from recovering any costs for emergency medical services.
This bill will correct that by simply offering departments the option to
recuperate costs of this noble service.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
No fiscal impact
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
A savings to fire districts / departments
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1778--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JONES, McDONOUGH, RA, LAVINE, D'URSO, WOERNER,
BLAKE, DiPIETRO, BYRNE, STECK, COOK, BUCHWALD, JEAN-PIERRE, MORINELLO,
NORRIS, GALEF, FAHY, BRONSON, LUPARDO, ABINANTI, BARRETT, SOLAGES,
RAIA, GOODELL, HUNTER, PHEFFER AMATO, COLTON, B. MILLER, BUTTENSCHON,
BRABENEC, DeSTEFANO, BURKE, WALSH, CROUCH, MONTESANO, PALUMBO,
LAWRENCE, SMULLEN, MANKTELOW, SAYEGH, LiPETRI, ARROYO, JAFFEE, WALC-
ZYK, TAGUE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BYRNES, ENGLEBRIGHT,
M. L. MILLER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local
Governments -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law and the town law, in relation
to authorizing fees and charges for emergency medical services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 209-b of the general municipal
2 law, as amended by chapter 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 4. Fees and charges [prohibited] authorized. (a) Emergency and gener-
5 al ambulance service, including emergency medical service as defined in
6 section three thousand one of the public health law, authorized pursuant
7 to this section [shall] may be furnished without cost to the person
8 served; provided, however, that the authorities having control of a fire
9 department or fire company that have authorized such fire department or
10 fire company to provide such service or services may fix a schedule of
11 fees or charges to be paid by persons requesting such service or
12 services. The authorities having control of a fire department or fire
13 company may provide for the collection of fees and charges or may formu-
14 late rules and regulations for the collection thereof by the fire
15 department or fire company. When fees and charges are authorized pursu-
16 ant to this subdivision, the fees and charges collected shall be
17 disbursed in accordance with a written contract entered into between the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02799-06-9
A. 1778--A 2
1 authority having control of a fire department of fire company and the
2 fire department or fire company itself. The acceptance by any fire-
3 fighter of any personal remuneration or gratuity, directly or indirect-
4 ly, from a person served shall be a ground for his or her expulsion or
5 suspension as a member of the fire department or fire company.
6 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
7 sion, a basic life support service which establishes a schedule of fees
8 for service shall enter into a contract with a provider or providers of
9 advanced life support services to provide such advanced life support
10 services. Such contract shall at a minimum establish the fees for
11 advanced life support services and the means by which said provider will
12 be reimbursed when the ambulance service bills for emergency medical
13 service.
14 (c) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency
15 medical service as defined by this section which does not establish a
16 schedule of fees for service, requesting an Advanced Life Support (ALS)
17 intercept from another furnishing service in an area that is designated
18 as a rural area by any law or regulation of the state or that is located
19 in a rural census tract of a metropolitan statistical area (as deter-
20 mined under the most recent Goldsmith Modification) shall be subject to
21 payment of an ALS Rural Intercept Fee to such furnishing service at
22 rates negotiated between the providers of such services. In the absence
23 of any agreed upon rates, the service receiving such intercept shall pay
24 for such services at the usual and customary rate, which shall not be
25 excessive or unreasonable. Nothing in this section shall restrict any
26 ambulance providers from establishing mutually agreeable alternate fees
27 for services provided to and/or for each respective ambulance service.
28 § 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the general
29 municipal law, as amended by chapter 303 of the laws of 1980, is amended
30 to read as follows:
31 (e) [No] A contract [shall] may be entered into pursuant to the
32 provisions of this section for the services of an emergency rescue and
33 first aid squad of a fire department or fire company which is subject to
34 the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of [the general municipal
35 law] this chapter;
36 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 184 of the town law, as amended by chap-
37 ter 599 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
38 1. Whenever the town board shall have established or extended a fire
39 protection district pursuant to the provisions of this article, the town
40 board shall provide for the furnishing of fire protection within the
41 district and for that purpose may (a) contract with any city, village,
42 fire district or incorporated fire company maintaining adequate and
43 suitable apparatus and appliances for the furnishing of fire protection
44 in such district or (b) may acquire by gift or purchase such apparatus
45 and appliances for use in such district and may contract with any city,
46 village, fire district or incorporated fire company for operation, main-
47 tenance, and repair of the same and for the furnishing of fire
48 protection in such district, or both. The contract may also provide for
49 the furnishing of (1) emergency service in case of accidents, calamities
50 or other emergencies in connection with which the services of firefight-
51 ers would be required and (2) general ambulance service subject, howev-
52 er, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the general
53 municipal law. In the event that the fire department or fire company
54 furnishing fire protection within the district pursuant to contract does
55 not maintain and operate an ambulance then a separate contract may be
56 made for the furnishing within the district of emergency ambulance
A. 1778--A 3
1 service or general ambulance service, or both, with any city, village or
2 fire district the fire department of which, or with an incorporated fire
3 company having its headquarters outside the district which, maintains
4 and operates an ambulance subject, however, in the case of general ambu-
5 lance service, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the
6 general municipal law, or with an ambulance service, certified or regis-
7 tered pursuant to article thirty of the public health law[, which is not
8 organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the
9 general municipal law]. Any such contract with any such ambulance
10 service permitted herein shall be subject to the provisions of this
11 section.
12 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
13 have become a law.
