05/17/2026
๐จ ACTION NEEDED BEFORE MONDAY MORNING ๐จ
Happy National EMS Week
This Monday, May 18 at 10:00 AM, the NJ Senate Law and Public Safety Committee takes up Senate Bill S1421. As written, this bill could write volunteer EMS agencies out of the future of emergency medical services in New Jersey. Emails need to reach the committee TODAY โ before the hearing.
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๐ WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW (5 minutes)
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Email the five committee members below and ask them to amend S1421 to protect volunteer agencies. CC the sponsors.
EMAIL:
โข [email protected]
โข [email protected]
โข [email protected]
โข [email protected]
โข [email protected]
CC:
โข [email protected]
โข [email protected]
โข [email protected]
Suggested subject line: Please amend S1421 to protect volunteer EMS
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๐ THE TWO CHANGES WE'RE ASKING FOR
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S1421 defines "basic life support ambulance service" as an entity *licensed by the NJ Department of Health*. We are asking the committee to adopt two narrow amendments so volunteers aren't shut out:
1. In the definition of "basic life support ambulance service," add the words: "or a Member in Good Standing of the New Jersey State First Aid Council dba EMS Council of New Jersey."
2. Add volunteers and volunteer agencies to the list of entities permitted to provide EMS services.
These are small, specific edits โ easy for the committee to adopt before the bill moves.
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๐ WHY THIS MATTERS TO US
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S1421 makes basic life support an "essential service" that every municipality must provide. That goal is a good one โ and we support strong EMS coverage. The problem is the fine print: by tying that service to Department of Health licensure, the bill puts unlicensed volunteer squads at risk of no longer "counting" toward a town's requirement.
If a town can't count its volunteer squad, it may have little reason to keep funding one. For squads like ours, municipal support is the building, the ambulances, the fuel, and the insurance. Lose that footing and a volunteer agency's survival is genuinely in question.
DOH licensure also brings staffing rules many volunteer squads can't always meet โ for example, two EMTs on every rig before it can leave the building. For us that would mean drivers could no longer crew alongside a single EMT, no direct response on critical calls, and shift coverage cut to a fraction of what it is today.
We are not opposing better EMS coverage. We are asking that the volunteers who have answered the call in this county for decades be written *into* this bill โ not out of it.
๐๏ธ Hearing: Monday, May 18, 10:00 AM โ Committee Room 10, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ. Please send your email before then.