LITTLE, ADDABBO, FUNKE, GALLIVAN, GAUGHRAN, HARCKHAM, HELMING, KAPLAN, MARTINEZ, THOMAS
MLTSPNSR
Amd §§209-b & 122-b, Gen Muni L; amd §184, Town L
Provides that authorities having control of a fire department or fire company which provides emergency medical services may establish fees and charges for services.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3685--B
Cal. No. 567
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 12, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. BROOKS, LITTLE, FUNKE, GALLIVAN, HARCKHAM, THOMAS --
read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Local Government -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and
second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered
reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
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
18 authority having control of a fire department of fire company and the
19 fire department or fire company itself. The acceptance by any fire-
20 fighter of any personal remuneration or gratuity, directly or indirect-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02799-05-9
S. 3685--B 2
1 ly, from a person served shall be a ground for his or her expulsion or
2 suspension as a member of the fire department or fire company.
3 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
4 sion, a basic life support service which establishes a schedule of fees
5 for service shall enter into a contract with a provider or providers of
6 advanced life support services to provide such advanced life support
7 services. Such contract shall at a minimum establish the fees for
8 advanced life support services and the means by which said provider will
9 be reimbursed when the ambulance service bills for emergency medical
10 service.
11 (c) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency
12 medical service as defined by this section which does not establish a
13 schedule of fees for service, requesting an Advanced Life Support (ALS)
14 intercept from another furnishing service in an area that is designated
15 as a rural area by any law or regulation of the state or that is located
16 in a rural census tract of a metropolitan statistical area (as deter-
17 mined under the most recent Goldsmith Modification) shall be subject to
18 payment of an ALS Rural Intercept Fee to such furnishing service at
19 rates negotiated between the providers of such services. In the absence
20 of any agreed upon rates, the service receiving such intercept shall pay
21 for such services at the usual and customary rate, which shall not be
22 excessive or unreasonable. Nothing in this section shall restrict any
23 ambulance providers from establishing mutually agreeable alternate fees
24 for services provided to and/or for each respective ambulance service.
25 § 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the general
26 municipal law, as amended by chapter 303 of the laws of 1980, is amended
27 to read as follows:
28 (e) [No] A contract [shall] may be entered into pursuant to the
29 provisions of this section for the services of an emergency rescue and
30 first aid squad of a fire department or fire company which is subject to
31 the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of [the general municipal
32 law] this chapter;
33 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 184 of the town law, as amended by chap-
34 ter 599 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
35 1. Whenever the town board shall have established or extended a fire
36 protection district pursuant to the provisions of this article, the town
37 board shall provide for the furnishing of fire protection within the
38 district and for that purpose may (a) contract with any city, village,
39 fire district or incorporated fire company maintaining adequate and
40 suitable apparatus and appliances for the furnishing of fire protection
41 in such district or (b) may acquire by gift or purchase such apparatus
42 and appliances for use in such district and may contract with any city,
43 village, fire district or incorporated fire company for operation, main-
44 tenance, and repair of the same and for the furnishing of fire
45 protection in such district, or both. The contract may also provide for
46 the furnishing of (1) emergency service in case of accidents, calamities
47 or other emergencies in connection with which the services of firefight-
48 ers would be required and (2) general ambulance service subject, howev-
49 er, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the general
50 municipal law. In the event that the fire department or fire company
51 furnishing fire protection within the district pursuant to contract does
52 not maintain and operate an ambulance then a separate contract may be
53 made for the furnishing within the district of emergency ambulance
54 service or general ambulance service, or both, with any city, village or
55 fire district the fire department of which, or with an incorporated fire
56 company having its headquarters outside the district which, maintains
S. 3685--B 3
1 and operates an ambulance subject, however, in the case of general ambu-
2 lance service, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the
3 general municipal law, or with an ambulance service, certified or regis-
4 tered pursuant to article thirty of the public health law[, which is not
5 organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the
6 general municipal law]. Any such contract with any such ambulance
7 service permitted herein shall be subject to the provisions of this
8 section.
9 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
10 have become a law.
