Sponsor withdraws bill to move ambulance regulation to Department of Health after members raise drafting and scope concerns

Senate Bill 164, which would transfer ambulance regulation and oversight from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Health, was withdrawn from consideration after committee members raised multiple drafting, scope-of-practice and procedural concerns.

Sponsor Senator Woods told the panel the intent is to situate ambulance oversight with health experts because ambulance work today is primarily medical, not transportation. Department of Health witnesses said the bill would create certificates of authorized service territory, set tariffs and maintain a certificate-of-need approach for service areas.

Committee members flagged a range of problems: territorial and certificate-of-need language that could entrench anti-competitive protections for incumbent providers; new and potentially conflicting scope-of-practice provisions for EMTs; and constructionally problematic new provisions about subpoenas and enforcement (including references to a "writ of attachment" in the subpoena context, which several senators said is a misuse of legal terms). Members urged removing section 3 (scope-of-practice changes) or sending the measure to interim work.

Sponsor Woods acknowledged the drafting problems, said he would not press the bill in the current form and announced he would pull the bill to allow time for rework.

What happens next: the sponsor will work with legislative staff and stakeholders to revise statutory language and consider interim committee work to craft a cleaner transfer and address competitive and scope-of-practice issues.