BILL NUMBER: AB 210 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Solorio
JANUARY 31, 2011
An act to amend Section 1797.270 of
Sections 1797.105, 1797.224, and 1797.270 of, to add Sections 1797.95
and 1797.225 to, and to repeal Section 1797.201 of, the Health
and Safety Code, relating to emergency medical services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 210, as amended, Solorio. Emergency medical services.
Existing
(1) Existing law establishes the
Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency
Medical Care Personnel Act, which governs local emergency medical
service systems . The and establishes the
Emergency Medical Services Authority, which is responsible for the
coordination and integration of all state activities
concerning emergency medical services. The act requires the authority
to receive plans for the implementation of emergency medical
services and trauma care systems from local EMS agencies and
authorizes a local EMS agency to appeal a determination that a plan
does not effectively meet the needs of the persons served, among
other things.
This bill would authorize a prehospital EMS provider, as
defined, to appeal the authority's determination.
(2) The act requires a county to enter into a written
agreement with a city or fire district that contracted for, or
provided, as of June 1, 1980, prehospital emergency medical services
regarding the provision of these services for the city or fire
district, as specified. The act requires, until an agreement is
reached, prehospital emergency medical services to be continued at
not less than the existing level, unless reduced by the city council
or the governing body of the fire district, as specified.
This bill would repeal these requirements.
(3) The act authorizes a local EMS agency to create one or
more exclusive operating areas in the development of a local plan, as
specified, and requires a local EMS agency that creates an exclusive
operating area in its local plan to develop and submit the local EMS
agency's competitive process for selecting providers and determining
the scope of their operations to the authority.
This bill would require a local EMS agency to grant an
exclusive operating area or authorization to provide the same
prehospital emergency medical services to a city, county, fire
district, or other governmental entity that has continuously
contracted for, or provided, these services since June 1, 1980, if
this prehospital EMS provider has not entered into an agreement with
the local EMS agency to provide prehospital emergency medical
services for a city, county, or fire district. It would require a
prehospital EMS provider granted an exclusive operating area or
authorization to provide prehospital emergency medical services to
enter into a written agreement with the local EMS agency by December
31, 2013. It would also require prehospital EMS providers to be
subject to the medical control of the local EMS agency and comply
with local EMS agency policies and procedures regarding
administration of the local EMS system.
(4) The EMS act authorizes the
establishment of an emergency medical care committee in each county
and requires the committee to annually review ambulance services
operating within the county, emergency medical care offered within
the county, and first aid practices in the county. The act also
requires the committee to report its observations and recommendations
relative to this review to the Emergency Medical Services
Authority, authority and the local EMS agency.
This bill would require the establishment
membership of an emergency medical care committee in each
county to be representative of the EMS participants .
By
(5) By increasing the duties of
local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The
(6) The California Constitution
requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts
for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions
establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Emergency medical services (EMS) system coordination remains
the key factor in efficiently delivering the highest level of
prehospital patient care and emergency transport.
(b) All providers and stakeholders in the EMS delivery system must
be guided by consistent, clear standards regarding their rights,
responsibilities, and duties arising out of the provision of
prehospital emergency medical care to their respective communities.
(c) Agencies responsible for developing and maintaining a local
emergency medical services plan must be guided by and responsive to
reasonable and consistent standards for evaluating and determining
the scope, manner, and types of services provided within their
respective jurisdictions, particularly when making determinations
regarding exclusive operating areas and the concomitant rights under
Section 1797.201 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) Over 20 years of litigation magnifies the need for further
statutory guidance to ensure that the California EMS community
continues its focus on its primary mission, providing excellent care
to the citizens they serve.
SEC. 2. Section 1797.95 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
1797.95. "Prehospital EMS provider" means a city, county, fire
district, or other governmental entity or private entity that
provides first response services at the limited advanced life support
or advanced life support level or provides emergency ambulance
services or dispatches EMS resources.
SEC. 3. Section 1797.105 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
1797.105. (a) The authority shall receive plans for the
implementation of emergency medical services and trauma care systems
from local EMS agencies.
(b) After the applicable guidelines or regulations are established
by the authority, a local EMS agency may implement a local plan
developed pursuant to Section 1797.250, 1797.254, 1797.257, or
1797.258 unless the authority determines that the plan does not
effectively meet the needs of the persons served and is not
consistent with coordinating activities in the geographical area
served, or that the plan is not concordant and consistent with
applicable guidelines or regulations, or both the guidelines and
regulations, established by the authority.
(c) A local EMS agency or a prehospital EMS provider
may appeal a determination of the authority pursuant to subdivision
(b) to the commission.
(d) In an appeal pursuant to subdivision (c), the commission may
sustain the determination of the authority or overrule and permit
local implementation of a plan, and the decision of the commission is
final.
SEC. 4. Section 1797.201 of the Health
and Safety Code is repealed.
1797.201. Upon the request of a city or fire district that
contracted for or provided, as of June 1, 1980, prehospital emergency
medical services, a county shall enter into a written agreement with
the city or fire district regarding the provision of prehospital
emergency medical services for that city or fire district. Until such
time that an agreement is reached, prehospital emergency medical
services shall be continued at not less than the existing level, and
the administration of prehospital EMS by cities and fire districts
presently providing such services shall be retained by those cities
and fire districts, except the level of prehospital EMS may be
reduced where the city council, or the governing body of a fire
district, pursuant to a public hearing, determines that the reduction
is necessary.
Notwithstanding any provision of this section the provisions of
Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 1798) shall apply.
SEC. 5. Section 1797.224 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
1797.224. A local EMS agency may create one or more exclusive
operating areas in the development of a local plan, if a competitive
process is utilized to select the provider or providers of the
services pursuant to the plan. No competitive process is required if
the local EMS agency develops or implements a local plan that
continues the use of existing providers operating within a local EMS
area in the manner and scope in which the services have been provided
without interruption since January 1, 1981. A local EMS agency which
elects to create one or more exclusive operating areas in the
development of a local plan shall develop and submit for approval to
the authority, as part of the local EMS plan, its competitive process
for selecting providers and determining the scope of their
operations. This plan shall include provisions for a competitive
process held at periodic intervals. Nothing in this section
supersedes Section 1797.201.
SEC. 6. Section 1797.225 is added to the Health and
Safety Code, to read:
1797.225. (a) A local EMS agency shall grant to a city, county,
fire district, or other governmental entity that has continuously
contracted for, or provided prehospital emergency medical services
since June 1, 1980, an exclusive operating area or authorization to
provide the same prehospital emergency medical services if this
prehospital EMS provider has not already entered into an agreement
with the local EMS agency to provide prehospital emergency medical
services for a city, county, or fire district. The prehospital EMS
provider granted an exclusive operating area or authorization to
provide prehospital emergency medical services shall enter into a
written agreement with the local EMS agency by December 31, 2013.
(b) A local EMS agency shall include all prehospital EMS providers
in its local emergency medical services plans.
(c) Prehospital EMS providers shall be subject to medical control
by the local EMS agency, including, but not limited to, pursuant to
Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 1798), and shall comply with local
EMS agency policies and procedures regarding the administration of
the local EMS system.
SEC. 2. SEC. 7. Section 1797.270 of
the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
1797.270. An emergency medical care committee shall
may be established in each county in this state.
The committee membership shall be representative of the EMS
system participants. Nothing in this division should be
construed to prevent two or more adjacent counties from establishing
a single committee for review of emergency medical care in these
counties.
SEC. 3. SEC. 8. If the Commission on
State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by
the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for
those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section
17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.