AB 1403 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Emergency services.

Summary

Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical services (EMS) systems, authorizes each county to develop an EMS program and designate a local EMS agency, and requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority to receive plans for the implementation of EMS systems from local EMS agencies, as specified. Existing law requires a county to enter into a written agreement with a city or fire district that contracted for or provided prehospital EMS as of June 1, 1980. Existing law requires, until that written agreement is reached, prehospital EMS to be continued at not less than the existing level and the administration of prehospital EMS by cities and fire districts contracting for or providing those services as of June 1, 1980, to be retained by those cities and fire districts, as specified. This bill would authorize a county board of supervisors or the governing body of an entity or a joint powers agency designated as the local EMS agency by the board of supervisors to provide ambulance services to persons located within the county's jurisdiction by specified means, including assigning the duty of providing ambulance services to residents of the county to an existing county department and providing the department with the necessary staffing, vehicles, and equipment to provide ambulance services. The bill would require a county board of supervisors or a local EMS agency to adopt a written policy, including specified requirements, for an emergency ambulance services provider in order to enter into a contract with a provider for emergency ambulance services and would include required provisions for those contracts. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status failed 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 21, 2025 Last action Feb 2, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/24/25 - Amended Assembly → AB1403 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes occurred between these two versions of AB 1403. The difference is purely technical: the bill text was reformatted from a traditional printed legislative document (with line numbers, page headers, and column layout) into a web-based display format with navigation elements. All legislative provisions, including the new Section 1797.234 on emergency medical services and the amendments to Section 50470 on the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund, remain identical.

TECHNICAL

The bill was reformatted from a printed document layout (with line numbers, page breaks, and two-column formatting) into a web page format with navigation menus, search tools, and single-column text. No legislative language was added, removed, or altered.

02/21/25 - Introduced → 03/24/25 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MODERATE

AB 1403 was substantially expanded from a housing-only bill to also address county authority over ambulance and emergency medical services. The amended version adds legislative findings clarifying confusion around county EMS authority, and creates a new Section 1797.234 of the Health and Safety Code that explicitly authorizes counties to provide ambulance services through their own departments or by contracting with public or private providers, subject to written policy requirements and labor protections in contracts.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded significantly from addressing only the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund (housing) to also establishing and clarifying county authority over ambulance services, including how counties may deliver those services and what requirements apply when contracting with providers.

SCOPE

The bill now covers emergency medical services (EMS) and ambulance services in addition to its original housing trust fund provisions. The title was expanded from 'relating to housing' to also include 'relating to emergency medical services.'

The bill clarifies that contracts or assignments restricting operations to a county department or other local agency do not constitute exclusive operating areas and do not require a competitive bidding process under Section 1797.224.

DEFINITION

New Section 1 adds legislative findings declaring that significant confusion exists regarding the statutory authorities, roles, and responsibilities of counties, boards of supervisors, and local EMS agencies regarding prehospital EMS and ambulance services, due to how these authorities are scattered across multiple statutes.

REQUIREMENT

New Section 1797.234 authorizes county boards of supervisors or designated local EMS agencies to provide ambulance services by: (1) creating a separate county department, (2) assigning the duty to an existing county department, (3) contracting with cities or local public agencies, or (4) contracting with private ambulance companies.

Before entering any contract for emergency ambulance services, the board of supervisors or local EMS agency must adopt a written policy by ordinance or resolution that includes requirements for: employment retention policies, demonstrated provider experience serving similar populations, demonstrated diversity and equity efforts addressing vulnerable populations, financial requirements including proof of insurance and bonding, and a description of the provider's public information and community involvement activities.

Contracts for emergency ambulance services must include provisions ensuring that ambulance service employees are paid comparable wages and benefits consistent with those in the same geographic region, and that staffing levels are comparable to those under any prior contract for those services in that jurisdiction.

TECHNICAL

The original housing trust fund amendment (Section 50470) was renumbered from Section 1 to Section 3 of the bill, with no substantive changes to its content.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56.

lower

Mar 25, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

lower

Mar 24, 2025

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.M. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 24, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on E.M and Health.

lower

Feb 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.

lower

Feb 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. To print.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors