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Minutes for SB384 - Committee on Local Government
Short Title
Allowing ambulances in rural communities to operate with only the minimum personnel required by state law.
Minutes Content for Thu, Feb 1, 2024
Revisor Jason Long (Attachment 1) provided a brief of the bill. He stood for questions from the committee.
The hearing for SB384 was opened by Chair McGinn.
Spencer Duncan (Attachment 2) spoke in favor of the bill with a proposed forthcoming amendment that clarifies language to indicate that there is to be one qualified driver and one health care attendant. He is in favor of the bill in order for rural communities to have greater flexibility in staffing due to their unique limitations. The waiver that the Kansas Board of EMS approved last year makes things better for smaller communities but still has concerns that waiver is only for 12 months.
Proponent written testimony was submitted by:
Dave Garnas (Attachment 3), Administrator, North Central Kansas Medical Center in Concordia
Randy Leis, President (Attachment 4), Kansas Legislative Policy Group
Amy Lange (Attachment 5), City Manager, Concordia
Joseph House (Attachment 6) spoke in opposition to the bill. Last year his board approved a variance program which has recently begun to be implemented in five communities. He believes, that given enough time, the model will prove effective at addressing current issues. He addressed concerns about the one year time period for the variance noting that there are no limitations on how often a variance can be granted.
Shane Pearson (Attachment 7) testified in opposition to the bill also. He agrees that the variance process needs time to work to see how well it resolves the issues that are out there. In addition, there may be grant funding available for EMS training for individuals who would be interested but may not be aware that their communities are looking for people.
Jason White, a consultant for MARCER who spoke on behalf of Jeff Boss (Attachment 8), provided opposition testimony to the bill. The first point he wanted to make was that the bill could also impact metro areas not just rural. Since the bill is meant to address a rural area problem, it needs to be adjusted in order to not implicate metros. His second point was that this is an issue affecting rural ambulances nationally and it is not their only issue. Besides staffing there are financial and organizational issues and billing collection concerns. He stated that the bill is just a band-aid fix for now of an overall problem with rural ambulances which will continue to resurface in the future.
David Adams (Attachment 9) provided testimony against the bill because it lowers the standard of care for patients when there is only one attendant and which can also harm the mental and emotional health of personnel when making weighty decisions alone.
Speakers from both sides of the bill stood for questions from the committee.
Neutral written testimony was submitted by:
Kari Rinker (Attachment 10), American Heart Association
Seeing that there needs to be more discussion on the bill, Chair McGinn left the hearing open to be continued at a future date.
