Rescue EMS Bills Pass, Head to Governor's Desk

In the final hours of the 2024 Legislative Session, State Legislators adopted key pieces of the Rescue EMS reform package, including a bill authorizing Medicaid reimbursement to emergency medical services (EMS) agencies for providing Treatment in Place (TIP) S.8486-C (Hinchey) / A.9102-C (Kelles).

Additionally, both chambers of the legislature adopted bills to allow ambulance services and advanced life support first response service to store and distribute blood S.6226-A (Hinchey)/A.5789-A (Woerner), and a bill granting localities the option of allowing residents who serve in a neighboring municipality the ability to receive a tax exemption they would be entitled to had they served in the municipality in which they reside, S.2862-A (Martinez)/A.2121-A (Stern). 

This was a huge accomplishment for the vast coalition of county officials, EMS service providers, EMTs and paramedics who advocated on behalf of the Rescue EMS agenda!

Now that these bills have passed both the State Assembly and Senate, they head to Governor Kathy Hochul's desk for her signature or veto.

It's critical that she hear from us how important these bills are to stabilizing local EMS service! We encourage all counties to adopt a local resolution urging Governor Hochul to sign these bills and have provided a template resolution for counties to adapt and adopt locally.