Ambulance services.

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 specify that a county is authorized to contract for emergency ambulance services with a fire agency, as defined, that will provide those services, in whole or in part, through a written subcontract with a private ambulance service. The bill would further specify that a fire agency is authorized to enter into a written subcontract with a private ambulance service for these purposes. The bill would prohibit, on and after January 1, 2022, a county from entering into or renewing these contracts unless the county board of supervisors has adopted, by ordinance or resolution, a written policy setting forth issues to be considered for inclusion in the county contract for emergency ambulance services and the fire agency adopts a written policy that requires the written subcontract to be awarded pursuant to a competitive bidding process, as specified. The bill would specify certain issues that may be included in those written policies, including, for the county contract with the fire agency, employment retention requirements for the employees of the incumbent ambulance service, and, for the fire agency subcontract, whether the written request for proposals or other similar written request for bids adequately describes criteria to evaluate a bidder's demonstrated ability and commitment to providing cost-efficient and high-quality services. The bill would also require the county contract to demonstrate how the county contract will provide for the payment of comparable wages and benefits to all ambulance service employees that are generally consistent with those provided to ambulance service employees in the same geographic region and to demonstrate that the staffing levels for ambulance service employees will be comparable to the staffing levels under the county's previous contract. The bill would require a contracting fire agency to provide the ambulance service provider with reasonable advance written notice of any operational changes under the written subcontract and to use best efforts to address concerns raised by the ambulance service provider employees regarding those operational changes.