Bill Text: NY A01778 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides that authorities having control of a fire department or fire company which provides emergency medical services may establish fees and charges for services.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to local governments [A01778 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A01778-Amended.html
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. LBD02799-06-9A. 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 municipal35law] 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 ambulanceA. 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 not8organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the9general 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.