BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

Florida League of Cities

Volunteer Ambulance Services (Watch)

CS/CS/CS/HB 805 (Caruso) and CS/SB 1084 (Pizzo) prohibit a county or municipal government from limiting or preventing a volunteer ambulance service from responding or providing emergency medical services or transport within its jurisdiction. The bills also prevent a county or municipal government from requiring a volunteer ambulance service to obtain a license or certificate or pay a fee to provide ambulance or air ambulance services within its jurisdiction. The bills do allow a county or municipal government the ability to impose, collect or enforce payment of any occupational license tax authorized by law. CS/CS/HB 805 was amended to require the volunteer ambulance operator to complete a 16 hour emergency vehicle operator course. CS/CS/CS/SB 805 was further amended to add some accountability measures on the volunteer agency and clarify that if both the volunteer ambulance service and the local government EMS team arrives at the emergency scene at the same time and the patient is incapacitated, the local government is responsible for rescue services. (Taggart)