BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1944 (Gatto) - Emergency medical services: EMT-P discipline.
Amended: June 28, 2012 Policy Vote: Health 5-3
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1944 changes the process for performing
disciplinary investigations of emergency medical technician -
paramedics, by giving the employer the initial responsibility
for conducting investigations.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs up to $55,000 (General Fund or Emergency
Medical Technician Certification Fund) to revise existing
regulations.
Unknown costs from local mandate claims (General Fund).
Significant potential cost to the Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection to jointly investigate allegations of
potentially criminal acts (General Fund). (The proposed
author's amendments should limit any such costs.)
Background: There are three levels of emergency medical
technician (EMT) in the state: EMT-I, EMT-II, and EMT-P
(paramedic). Under current law, EMT-Is and EMT-IIs are licensed
by local emergency medical services agencies. On the other hand,
EMT-Ps are licensed by the state Emergency Medical Services
Authority (the Authority) and the Authority has primary
responsibility to conduct disciplinary investigations when
allegations of misconduct regarding EMT-Ps arise.
Proposed Law: AB 1944 changes the process for conducting
disciplinary investigations of EMT-Ps.
Under the bill, the Authority may deny, suspend, or revoke an
EMT-P license only after the employer has declined to conduct an
investigation into allegations of misconduct, the employer fails
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to impose discipline after the investigation, the Authority
determines that the discipline imposed by the employer does not
meet existing guidelines, or either the employer or the
Authority determine that the conduct under investigation
requires disciplinary action by the Authority.
If a local emergency medical services authority receives
information that an EMT-P has committed misconduct, the bill
authorizes the local emergency medical services authority to
refer that information to the employer and the Authority for
investigation. However, if the conduct occurred off-duty or if
the conduct is a potentially criminal act, the local emergency
medical services authority is required to refer that information
to the Authority for investigation. For potentially criminal
acts, the bill requires the Authority to conduct a joint
investigation with the employer.
The bill authorizes the employer to conduct investigations into
allegations of misconduct. The bill requires the employer to
provide specified notifications to the Authority about
investigations.
Related Legislation: SB 1378 (Hancock) would have required the
medical director of a local emergency medical services agency to
evaluate the good character and rehabilitation of an emergency
medical technician who has a prior conviction before denying
certification. That bill was held on this committee's suspense
file.
Staff Comments: The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
employs a large number of firefighting personnel, many of whom
are licensed EMT-Ps. Because the bill requires employers to
jointly investigate allegations of potentially criminal conduct
with the Authority, the bill may impose additional costs on the
Department as an employer.
Proposed Author Amendments: The proposed amendments would
require the Authority to investigate potentially criminal acts
in cooperation with an employer, rather than requiring a joint
investigation.
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