Int 0299-2002

Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section 1. Legislative Findings and Intent. The City Council recognizes that the provision of emergency medical services to the citizens of and visitors to the City of New York requires those employees involved to undertake great risk to themselves and to the public in the provision of such services. In addition, the City Council recognizes that in the course of performing their duties in providing emergency medical services these personnel are accorded great freedom to enter sensitive areas, enter private spaces, and carry out their work with minimal direct supervision and control. Where the persons who provide emergency medical services are employed by entities other than agencies of the City of New York, the risks increase that (1) there may be lapses in health care quality in the provision of emergency medical services which the City cannot correct because it is not the employer of the individuals providing the services; and (2) there may be breaches of security which the City cannot correct or control because it is not the employer of the individuals providing the services. In order that these emergency medical services be provided with the greatest assurance of high quality medical care and with the greatest security for the citizens of and visitors to the City of New York, the City Council intends by this legislation that the providers of emergency medical services in the City of New York operating pursuant to the City's 911 system shall be employees of the fire department of the City of New York. � 2. Chapter one of title 15 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to add a new section 15-112, to read as follows: � 15-112 Persons who provide emergency medical services in the 911 system. All persons who provide emergency medical services within the City's 911 system shall be employees of the fire department, and shall be members of the civil service. The foregoing shall not preclude the commissioner from entering into mutual aid agreements with appropriate, qualified services, in order to provide for back up services during any period in which an emergency requires the deployment of personnel in addition to those provided by the department; provided, however, that any such qualified service shall be either a volunteer ambulance association or a not-for-profit corporation. � 3. This local law shall take effect 60 days after it is enacted. - 2 -