Bill Text: NY A00029 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the good samaritan ambulance act to allow the provision of ambulance services outside of an agency's primary territory in emergencies.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to health [A00029 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A00029-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 29 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. QUART, LAVINE, LALOR, O'DONNELL, GOODELL -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GALEF, McDONOUGH -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the good samaritan ambulance act of 2021 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "the good 2 samaritan ambulance act of 2021". 3 § 2. Section 3001 of the public health law is amended by adding a new 4 subdivision 22 to read as follows: 5 22. "Operate" means with respect to an ambulance receiving patients. 6 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 3010 of the public health law, as 7 amended by chapter 588 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as 8 follows: 9 1. Every ambulance service certificate or statement of registration 10 issued under this article shall specify the primary territory within 11 which the ambulance service shall be permitted to operate. An ambulance 12 service shall receive patients only within the primary territory speci- 13 fied on its ambulance service certificate or statement of registration, 14 except: (a) when receiving a patient which it initially transported to a 15 facility or location outside its primary territory; (b) as required for 16 the fulfillment of a mutual aid agreement authorized by the regional 17 council; (c) upon express approval of the department and the appropriate 18 regional emergency medical services council for a maximum of sixty days 19 if necessary to meet an emergency need; provided that in order to 20 continue such operation beyond the sixty day maximum period necessary to 21 meet an emergency need, the ambulance service must satisfy the require- 22 ments of this article, regarding determination of public need and spec- 23 ification of the primary territory on the ambulance service certificate EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01373-01-1A. 29 2 1 or statement of registration; [or] (d) an ambulance service or advanced 2 life support first response service organization formed to serve the 3 need for the provision of emergency medical services in accordance with 4 the religious convictions of a religious denomination may serve such 5 needs in an area adjacent to such primary territory and, while respond- 6 ing to a call for such service, the needs of other residents of such 7 area at the emergency scene; (e) any agency receiving a report of a life 8 threatening medical emergency requiring emergency medical services that 9 in good faith concludes, on the basis of information available at the 10 time, that the agency having primary responsibility for the territory 11 will be delayed, and such delay may unnecessarily escalate or exacerbate 12 the emergency, shall not be subject to any sanction for operating 13 outside its primary territory, provided, that, it: attempts to notify 14 the agency having primary responsibility for that territory of the emer- 15 gency and of its response; has the resources available to respond to the 16 emergency; and is not cancelled either in route or on the scene by an 17 agency or dispatcher having primary responsibility for the territory; or 18 (f) if an agency having primary responsibility for a territory avails 19 itself of the resources, equipment, or personnel of an agency responding 20 to an emergency outside the responding agency's primary territory, then 21 the agency having primary responsibility for the territory will be 22 deemed to have made a request for mutual aid pursuant to a mutual aid 23 agreement and the agency responding outside of its primary territory 24 will not be the subject of any administrative sanction for operating 25 outside its primary territory; provided that (g) nothing contained in 26 this subdivision shall impose a legal duty on any agency to respond 27 outside of its primary territory and any such response shall be solely 28 at the discretion of the agency. Any ambulance service seeking to oper- 29 ate in more than one region shall make application to each appropriate 30 regional council. Whenever an application is made simultaneously to more 31 than one regional council, the applications submitted to the regional 32 councils shall be identical, or copies of each application shall be 33 submitted to all the regional councils involved. 34 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 35 have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the 36 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary 37 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized 38 and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
