STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT AUTH
District 39 (Bergen and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Flynn and Assemblyman Scharfenberger
SYNOPSIS
Streamlines certification standards for emergency medical technicians.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning emergency medical services and amending P.L.2013, c.101.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.2013, c.101 (C.26:2K-65) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. (1) The Commissioner of Health [and Senior Services], with the approval of the State Board of Medical Examiners, shall establish written standards which a person shall successfully complete in order to be certified as an EMT-Basic; provided that the academic coursework, clinical training, field experience, and any other instruction, experience, or training that is required for EMT-Basic certification, combined, shall not exceed 90 hours.
(2) The academic coursework, clinical training, field experience, and any other instruction, experience, or training that is required for any additional certification that is both regulated by the Commissioner of Health and within the scope of practice of an individual who is certified as an EMT-Basic, combined, shall not exceed 30 hours.
(3) A training agency that offers an EMT-Basic training program shall be ineligible for certification or recertification by the Commissioner of Health, if the combined academic coursework, clinical training, field experience, and any other instruction, experience, or training that is required to complete the training program exceeds 90 hours.
b. Applicants for EMT-Basic certification, who have equivalent military training or experience in any branch of the active duty or reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard of any state, shall be certified by the commissioner if the commissioner determines that the applicant's military training and experience exceed or are equivalent to the certification standards established by the commissioner.
(cf: P.L.2013, c.101, s.1)
2. The Commission of Health shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) as shall be necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
3. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill streamlines certification standards for emergency medical technicians (EMTs).
The bill amends current law to provide that the academic coursework, clinical training, field experience, and any other instruction, experience, or training that is required for EMT-Basic certification, combined, is not to exceed 90 hours. In addition, the academic coursework, clinical training, field experience, and any other instruction, experience, or training that is required for any additional certification that is both regulated by the Commissioner of Health (commissioner) and within the scope of practice of an individual who is certified as an EMT-Basic, combined, is not to exceed 30 hours.
Under the bill, a training agency that offers an EMT-Basic training program will be ineligible for certification or recertification by the commissioner if the combined academic coursework, clinical training, field experience, and any other instruction, experience, or training that is required to complete the training program exceeds 90 hours.
An EMT-Basic training program, alone, can last a minimum of 190 hours. It is the sponsor's belief that these requirements are needlessly lengthy and burdensome. As a result, many are choosing to not enter the EMT field, which has created a dire shortage of EMTs in this State and imperiled the health and welfare of New Jersey's citizens. This bill removes these burdens and places New Jersey in line with other states that have similarly advanced and streamlined their EMT certification processes in order to attract a sufficient number of candidates to the EMT field to help ensure the health and welfare of the citizens of those states.