The Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, among other things, authorizes a county to develop an emergency medical services program, and requires a county developing such a program to designate a local EMS agency that is required to be the county health department, an agency established and operated by the county, an entity with which the county contracts for the purposes of local emergency medical services administration, or a particular type of joint powers agency. The act authorizes a local EMS agency to create one or more exclusive operating areas in the development of a local plan, if a competitive process is utilized to select the provider of the services pursuant to the plan, except as specified.

This bill would authorize a county to contract for emergency ambulance services with a fire protection district that is governed by the county’s board of supervisors and provides those services, in whole or in part, through a written subcontract with a private ambulance service. The bill would authorize a fire protection district to enter into a written subcontract with a private ambulance service for these purposes.