Bill Text: NY S03685 | 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: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-4)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-07-21 - referred to local governments [S03685 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S03685-Amended.html



                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.
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