Ambulance Services Grant Program

Summary#

A-11718 would amend New York’s Public Health Law by adding a grant program run by the state Department of Health. Its stated goal is to support projects that sustain or improve volunteer and municipal ambulance services. The bill has been introduced and referred to the Assembly Health Committee; it is not law.

  • The Department of Health would award capital grants (grants for projects or assets) through competitive application cycles, if funding is appropriated.
  • Eligible applicants would include volunteer ambulance services, municipal ambulance services, and groups of two or more such services applying for a shared project.
  • Eligible projects could include acquiring or maintaining buildings, equipment, technology, or vehicles. Building and vehicle projects could also cover improvements, renovations, rehabilitation, or consolidation.
  • A municipality or county could apply on behalf of an eligible service if it meets department requirements showing the service’s approval and direct benefit.
  • No eligible entity could receive more than 10% of the funding available in a cycle. The commissioner would have to publish a report on each cycle within 30 days after it ends.

What it means for you#

  • Volunteer and municipal ambulance services: You could apply for grants for eligible projects, alone or with other services. Awards would be competitive, depend on appropriated funding, and be subject to the 10% limit.
  • Municipalities and counties: You could apply on a service’s behalf, but would have to meet additional requirements set by the Department of Health.
  • Taxpayers and the public: The program would be administered within the Department of Health; the bill does not create a separate agency. It does not itself appropriate money or guarantee that grants will be available.
  • Ambulance service users: The bill does not directly change ambulance-service eligibility, service requirements, or access to care.

Money#

No publicly available information on the program’s cost or the amount of funding that may be appropriated.

  • Grants would be paid from funding appropriated to the program. The bill does not set a dollar amount.
  • The Department of Health would administer the program and the commissioner would make rules, but the bill gives no estimate of staffing or administrative costs.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not set grant amounts, award criteria, or how competing applications would be ranked.
  • The commissioner would set the application-cycle period, and the department could set additional requirements. The bill does not give more detail about those rules.
  • It is unclear how the 10% funding limit would apply to shared-project applications involving multiple eligible entities.
  • The bill refers to the existing legal definition of a “voluntary ambulance service,” but the parent Public Health Law was not supplied, so that definition and how the bill fits with current law could not be verified. The bill does not define “municipal ambulance service” in the text provided.
  • The bill does not explain how the grant program would interact with other funding programs.

Case for#

  • The bill appears intended to help ambulance services pay for capital projects that support their operations, including buildings, equipment, technology, and vehicles.
  • A competitive process could direct limited funding among applications rather than guarantee a set grant to every eligible service.
  • Allowing joint applications could support projects shared by multiple services.
  • Required public reports would show funding, applications, awardees, and amounts requested and awarded by project type and county.

Case against#

  • One concern is that the bill does not specify how the department must rank applications, so applicants may not know what will determine an award.
  • The program depends on future appropriations. Without them, the bill alone would not provide grant funding.
  • The bill assigns administration and rule-making duties to the Department of Health but does not estimate the cost or staffing needed.
  • It is unclear whether the 10% limit could constrain a large or shared project, or how the limit would work for a group application.