SENATE BILL 147

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2022

INTRODUCED BY

Pete Campos

AN ACT

RELATING TO AMBULANCE SERVICES; ESTABLISHING A FUND; REQUIRING RULES; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 65-6-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1974, Chapter 82, Section 1) is amended to read:

     "65-6-1. SHORT TITLE.--[Sections 1 through 6 of this act] Chapter 65, Article 6 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Ambulance Standards Act"."

     SECTION 2. A new section of the Ambulance Standards Act is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] AMBULANCE SERVICE ASSISTANCE FUND CREATED--GRANT REQUIREMENTS.--

          A. The "ambulance service assistance fund" is created in the state treasury and shall be administered by the commission. The fund consists of appropriations, income from investment of the fund and any other money distributed or otherwise allocated to the fund. Money in the fund is appropriated to the commission for the purpose of administering the rules adopted by the commission pursuant to Subsection C of this section and making disbursements from the fund. Disbursements from the fund shall be made upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the chair of the commission. Balances in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund. The fund may consist of such subaccounts as the commission deems necessary to carry out the purposes of the fund.

          B. The commission shall establish procedures and adopt rules as required to administer the ambulance service assistance fund, to recover from the fund the costs of administering the fund and to determine the factors for deciding on competitive grants from the fund.

          C. Money in the ambulance service assistance fund may be used to make grants on a competitive basis to local public ambulance service providers to assist in the purchase or refurbishment of ambulances, medical equipment or the required training and certification of ambulance drivers and emergency medical service staff; provided that:

                (1) no entity may receive more than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) from the fund in a given fiscal year;

                (2) to receive a grant, a recipient shall provide, or obtain, non-state funding equal to at least twenty-five percent of the cost of the equipment, training or certifications for which the grant is being awarded; and

                (3) the commission certifies that the grant applicant has been in compliance with the Ambulance Standards Act for at least the two fiscal years previous to an award of a grant."

     SECTION 3. APPROPRIATION.--Nine million dollars ($9,000,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the ambulance service assistance fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2023 and subsequent fiscal years for the purposes of the fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund.

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