Delaware House Bill 423 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-9)
Status: Introduced on June 27 2014 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2014-06-27 - Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House
Pending: House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

In 1999, House Bill 332 established new response time goals and certification standards for the delivery of basic life support and emergency medical services. In order to meet the new standards, volunteer ambulance companies needed to hire paid EMTs and ambulance attendants to ensure the availability of sufficient numbers of trained, certified staff on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis to meet the new response time goals. The authors of House Bill 332 recognized that compliance with the new goals and standards would impose additional expense on the volunteer ambulance companies; however, neither House Bill 332 nor any subsequent legislation has addressed the funding sources for basic life support ambulance service in Delaware. Increased costs, without corresponding increases in revenue, have eroded the financial stability of volunteer ambulance companies. In 2012, 40 of Delaware’s 55 volunteer ambulance companies reported they are now conducting ambulance/EMS operations at a loss. In 2013, House Bill 215 established the Ambulance and EMS Task Force (“Task Force”). In February 2014, the Task Force issued its report on the state of funding of ambulance and EMS services in Delaware and noted, “By some accounts, the public may begin to see diminished ambulance service in as little as 8 to 12 months, if steps are not taken promptly to meet the funding need.” The Task Force made 9 findings and 13 recommendations aimed at addressing this issue. This bill would implement one of the Task Force’s recommendations to improve the funding of basic life support ambulance services in Delaware by establishing a $10 assessment on all violations of Title 21 and creating a Volunteer Ambulance Company Fund. The moneys collected would be earmarked for volunteer ambulance companies and distributed on a pro rata basis by the State Fire Prevention Commission

An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Fines, Costs, Penalties, And Forfeitures.

Rep. Melanie Smith [D]	Rep. William Carson [D]	Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Sen. Bryan Townsend [D]
Rep. John Atkins [D]	Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]	Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]	Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]
Rep. Ronald Gray [R]	Rep. Debra Heffernan [D]	Rep. Deborah Hudson [R]	Rep. Earl Jaques [D]
Rep. James Johnson [D]	Rep. Harvey Kenton [R]	Rep. Valerie Longhurst [D]	Rep. William Outten [R]
Sen. Charles Paradee [D]	Rep. Bryon Short [D]	Rep. Daniel Short [R]	Rep. Jeffrey Spiegelman [R]
Rep. D.E. Williams [D]	Sen. David Wilson [R]	Sen. Brian Bushweller [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2014-06-27	House	Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/ceb5223b2de143de85257d040009f023?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+423/$file/legis.html?open