Bill Text: NJ S1261 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes moratorium on licensing of certain emergency medical service helicopter response units pending evaluation and report.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-06-21 - Substituted by A2169 [S1261 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S1261-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes moratorium on licensing of certain emergency medical service helicopter response units pending evaluation and report.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a moratorium on the licensing of emergency medical service helicopter response units pending an evaluation and report and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Commencing on the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the Department of Health and Senior Services shall impose a moratorium on the licensing of any new emergency medical service helicopter response unit pending the issuance of the report required pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) ( pending before the Legislature as this bill).
2. a. Within six months of the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services shall evaluate the regulations that govern the operation of emergency medical service helicopter response units in this State. The commissioner shall issue a report to the Governor and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), with any findings and recommendations that the commissioner deems appropriate concerning the operations of emergency medical service helicopter response units.
b. The report shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1) whether current regulations provide for appropriate minimum safety and performance standards for emergency medical service helicopter response units and vehicle licensees;
(2) whether the criteria for selecting new bases of operation for emergency medical service helicopter response unit vehicles in the State should include the sources of trauma emergencies;
(3) whether a needs-based analysis is warranted with respect to the locations from which emergency medical service helicopter response unit vehicles operate;
(4) whether patients are being transported to facilities that are able to provide the appropriate level of care;
(5) the advisability of establishing a centralized emergency medical service helicopter response unit vehicle dispatch system based in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety;
(6) the commissioner's recommendation as to whether the moratorium imposed pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) should continue and if so, the recommended duration of, and reasons for, the extension of the moratorium; and
(7) any other information that the commissioner deems appropriate to the report.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would impose a moratorium on the licensing of any new emergency medical service helicopter response unit pending the evaluation and report of the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services (commissioner) concerning the regulations that govern the operations of emergency medical service helicopter response units in this State.
The report is to include, but need not be limited to, whether current regulations provide for appropriate minimum safety and performance standards for emergency medical service helicopter response units and vehicle licensees, whether the criteria for selecting new bases of operation for emergency medical service helicopter response unit vehicles should include the sources of trauma emergencies, and whether a needs-based analysis is warranted with respect to the location from which emergency medical service helicopter response unit vehicles operate.
The report is to also consider whether patients are being transported to facilities that are able to provide the appropriate level of care and the advisability of establishing a centralized emergency medical service helicopter response unit vehicle dispatch system based in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
The report is to include the commissioner's recommendations as to whether the moratorium should continue and is so, the recommended duration of, and reasons for the extension of the moratorium. The commissioner may include any other information that the commissioner deems appropriate to the report.
