Bill Text: NY S01286 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
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 9-4)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT [S01286 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S01286-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1286 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 11, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sens. BROOKS, ADDABBO, GALLIVAN, GAUGHRAN, HARCKHAM, HELM- ING, KAPLAN, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when print- ed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government 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- 21 ly, from a person served shall be a ground for his or her expulsion or 22 suspension as a member of the fire department or fire company. 23 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi- 24 sion, a basic life support service which establishes a schedule of fees EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03579-01-1S. 1286 2 1 for service shall enter into a contract with a provider or providers of 2 advanced life support services to provide such advanced life support 3 services. Such contract shall at a minimum establish the fees for 4 advanced life support services and the means by which said provider will 5 be reimbursed when the ambulance service bills for emergency medical 6 service. 7 (c) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency 8 medical service as defined by this section which does not establish a 9 schedule of fees for service, requesting an Advanced Life Support (ALS) 10 intercept from another furnishing service in an area that is designated 11 as a rural area by any law or regulation of the state or that is located 12 in a rural census tract of a metropolitan statistical area (as deter- 13 mined under the most recent Goldsmith Modification) shall be subject to 14 payment of an ALS Rural Intercept Fee to such furnishing service at 15 rates negotiated between the providers of such services. In the absence 16 of any agreed upon rates, the service receiving such intercept shall pay 17 for such services at the usual and customary rate, which shall not be 18 excessive or unreasonable. Nothing in this section shall restrict any 19 ambulance providers from establishing mutually agreeable alternate fees 20 for services provided to and/or for each respective ambulance service. 21 § 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the general 22 municipal law, as amended by chapter 303 of the laws of 1980, is amended 23 to read as follows: 24 (e) [No] A contract [shall] may be entered into pursuant to the 25 provisions of this section for the services of an emergency rescue and 26 first aid squad of a fire department or fire company which is subject to 27 the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of [the general municipal28law] this chapter; 29 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 184 of the town law, as amended by chap- 30 ter 599 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows: 31 1. Whenever the town board shall have established or extended a fire 32 protection district pursuant to the provisions of this article, the town 33 board shall provide for the furnishing of fire protection within the 34 district and for that purpose may (a) contract with any city, village, 35 fire district or incorporated fire company maintaining adequate and 36 suitable apparatus and appliances for the furnishing of fire protection 37 in such district or (b) may acquire by gift or purchase such apparatus 38 and appliances for use in such district and may contract with any city, 39 village, fire district or incorporated fire company for operation, main- 40 tenance, and repair of the same and for the furnishing of fire 41 protection in such district, or both. The contract may also provide for 42 the furnishing of (1) emergency service in case of accidents, calamities 43 or other emergencies in connection with which the services of firefight- 44 ers would be required and (2) general ambulance service subject, howev- 45 er, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the general 46 municipal law. In the event that the fire department or fire company 47 furnishing fire protection within the district pursuant to contract does 48 not maintain and operate an ambulance then a separate contract may be 49 made for the furnishing within the district of emergency ambulance 50 service or general ambulance service, or both, with any city, village or 51 fire district the fire department of which, or with an incorporated fire 52 company having its headquarters outside the district which, maintains 53 and operates an ambulance subject, however, in the case of general ambu- 54 lance service, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the 55 general municipal law, or with an ambulance service, certified or regis- 56 tered pursuant to article thirty of the public health law[, which is notS. 1286 3 1organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the2general municipal law]. Any such contract with any such ambulance 3 service permitted herein shall be subject to the provisions of this 4 section. 5 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 6 have become a law.
