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. LBD02799-05-9S. 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 municipal32law] 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, maintainsS. 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 not5organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the6general 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.
