Bill Text: NJ A4450 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends law related to EMT eligibility for receiving funds from "Emergency Medical Technician Training Fund."
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-02-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee [A4450 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-A4450-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman STERLEY S. STANLEY
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Revises law related to EMT eligibility for receiving funds from "Emergency Medical Technician Training Fund."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning emergency medical technicians and amending P.L.1992, c.143.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 4 of P.L.1992, c.143 (C.26:2K-57) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. The commissioner, in accordance with recommendations adopted by the council, and within the limits of those monies in the fund, shall annually reimburse any private agency, organization, or entity which is certified by the commissioner to provide training and testing for ambulance, first aid, and rescue squad personnel who are seeking certification or recertification as a volunteer emergency medical technician, for which costs that agency, organization, or entity is not otherwise reimbursed. An agency, organization, or entity that provides training and testing to volunteer emergency medical technicians and volunteer emergency medical technician candidates shall be eligible for reimbursement from the fund regardless of whether the ambulance, first aid, and rescue squad employing or utilizing the services of the volunteer emergency medical technician receives any payment or reimbursement for providing emergency medical services. The priority for reimbursement from the fund to an agency, organization, or entity for training and testing of ambulance, first aid, and rescue squad personnel shall be in the following order: initial emergency medical technician certification [and] , emergency medical technician [refresher] recertification classes , and select continuing education classes as recommended by the advisory council established pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1992, c.143 (C.26:2K-59).
b. All reimbursements from the fund shall be promptly paid upon receipt of a qualifying application for reimbursement, which payment shall be made to the agency, organization, or entity that provided training to the volunteer emergency medical technician.
c. (1) The head of the ambulance, first aid, and rescue squad employing or utilizing the services of an emergency medical technician, who received initial emergency medical technician training from an agency, organization, or entity that received reimbursement from the fund for providing the initial emergency medical technician training to that emergency medical technician, shall determine the emergency medical technician to be a volunteer in good standing, provided that the emergency medical technician works at least [one] 12 service [call] calls per [month] year, or 150 duty hours per year, during the initial three-year certification period as a volunteer emergency medical technician.
(2) The head of the ambulance, first aid, and rescue squad shall seek reimbursement from the emergency medical technician, if the emergency medical technician ceases to be a volunteer in good standing, for monies paid out of the fund in connection with that emergency medical technician's training, testing, certification, or recertification, as appropriate, in connection with the initial three-year certification period in which the emergency medical technician ceased to be a volunteer in good standing. However, an emergency medical technician who ceases to be a volunteer in good standing in order to attend a public or private institution of higher education shall not be responsible for reimbursing the fund. The Department of Health shall exercise oversight authority over the collection of funds pursuant to this paragraph.
d. As used in this section:
"Public or private institution of higher education" means any public university or college, or any private college, university, or institute, [incorporated and] located in [New Jersey] the United States, which by virtue of law or character or license is a nonprofit educational institution authorized to grant academic degrees, provides a level of education equivalent to the education provided by the State's public institutions of higher education [as attested by the receipt of and continuation of regional accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and is eligible to receive State aid under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey].
"Volunteer emergency medical technician" means an emergency medical technician who provides basic life support services without receiving compensation in the form of an hourly wage, or a salary, [or any other form of financial remuneration] provided for or in connection with the provision of basic life support services. [A volunteer emergency medical technician shall not include an individual employed full-time by a general or special hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) as an emergency medical technician] A length of service award administered pursuant to a length of service award program as established under the provisions of P.L.1997, c.388 (C.40A-14-183 et seq.) shall not be considered financial remuneration.
(cf: P.L.2024, c.68, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would amend section 4 of P.L.1992, c.143 (C.26:2K-57) to clarify that a volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) who receives a length of service award would be eligible to receive funds from the "Emergency Medical Technician Training Fund" for the purposes of certification or recertification as an emergency medical technician (EMT). This bill amends the definitions of "public or private institution of higher education" and "volunteer emergency medical technician." Under this bill, the definition of "public or private institution of higher education" would be amended to include those universities that are located out-of-State. And, the definition of "volunteer emergency medical technician" would be amended to mean an EMT who provides basic life support services without receiving compensation in the form of an hourly wage, or a salary, provided for or in connection with the provision of basic life support services, and eliminates duplicative language, excluding individuals employed full-time, by a general or a special hospital, as EMTs, from the definition of volunteer EMT.
Lastly, this bill changes the requirements of an EMT in good standing during the initial three-year certification period to one who works at least 12 service calls, or 150 duty hours, per year.
