BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          AB 704 (Fong) - Emergency medical services: military experience.
          
          Amended: July 1, 2013           Policy Vote: Health 9-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 12, 2013                           
          Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    
          
          This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: AB 704 would require the Emergency Medical  
          Services Authority to develop regulations to accept the training  
          and experience gained in the armed forces towards certification  
          or licensing requirements for emergency medical technicians.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Ongoing costs of about $100,000 for the Emergency Medical  
              Services Authority to develop and adopt regulations and to  
              assist with ongoing certification and licensing of emergency  
              medical technicians by the Authority and local governments  
              (Emergency Medical Services Personnel Fund and EMT  
              Certification Fund).

          Background: Under current law, the Emergency Medical Services  
          Authority is required to develop planning guidelines for  
          emergency medical services, including training requirements for  
          emergency medical service personnel. 

          Under current law, there are three levels of emergency medical  
          technicians. Emergency Medical Technician-Is and Emergency  
          Medical Technician-IIs are certified by local emergency medical  
          service authorities, using training requirements adopted by the  
          Emergency Medical Services Authority. Emergency Medical  
          Technician-Paramedics are licensed by the Authority.

          Proposed Law: AB 704 would require the Emergency Medical  
          Services Authority to develop regulations to accept the training  
          and experience gained in the armed forces towards certification  
          or licensing requirements for emergency medical technicians.

          Related Legislation: AB 1976 (Logue) would have required healing  








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          arts boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs and  
          professional licensure programs within the Department of Public  
          Health to accept military training towards professional  
          licensing standards. That bill was held on the Assembly  
          Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.

          Staff Comments: Current regulations allow applicants to use  
          training gained in the armed forces towards emergency medical  
          technician training requirements, provided that the applicant  
          can provide documentation of successful completion of training  
          that meets national emergency medical service standards.