All Roll Calls
Yes: 84 • No: 18
IdahoH 02062025 regular legislative sessionHouseWALLET
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES – Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to transfer emergency medical services responsibilites to the Idaho Military Division.
Sponsored By: TRANSPORTATION AND DEFENSE COMMITTEE
Signed by Governor
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
13 provisions identified: 7 benefits, 1 costs, 5 mixed.
College scholarships reach more responder families
The law adds emergency medical responders, technicians, and advanced technicians to the public safety officer scholarship program. Eligible spouses and children qualify when an officer is killed or totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty. The officer must have been an Idaho resident employed by or volunteering for Idaho or a local government. Applicants must be Idaho residents; children must also have completed high school or its equivalent in Idaho. Spouses must meet marriage-at-the-event requirements and remain married to an officer whose disability qualifies them. Intentional misconduct, intentionally inflicted injury, and voluntary intoxication at death can disqualify a claim. Benefits include tuition and fees, books up to $750 per term, and on-campus housing, with a 36-month cap.
Trauma injury coverage includes emergency workers
Certified emergency medical providers and ambulance-based clinicians are included in workers’ compensation coverage for work-related post-traumatic stress injury. A psychologist, licensed psychiatrist, or counselor trained in this injury must examine and diagnose the worker. Clear and convincing evidence must link the injury to events arising from the worker’s employment. Coverage applies to injuries or occupational-disease symptoms appearing on or after July 1, 2019.
Emergency workers receive peer support privacy
Certified emergency medical providers and ambulance-based clinicians qualify for privacy protections when using peer-support counseling. The protection has exceptions, including threats of suicide or criminal acts, required reports, and admissions of criminal conduct.
Military Division takes over emergency medicine
Beginning July 1, 2025, Idaho’s Military Division takes over emergency medical services oversight from Health and Welfare. Existing rules continue, and amendments require legislative approval; the Division’s rulemaking authority under this law ends July 1, 2027. Rules must be narrowly tailored, and licensing requirements cannot exceed those in neighboring or similar states. Division-recognized emergency workers retain access to specified emergency-vehicle lighting privileges while performing emergency medical services. Licensed nonprofit agencies retain the sales-tax exemption when federally tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) and serving surrounding residents without profit.
Emergency agencies gain equipment grant fund
A new state fund supports emergency medical vehicle and equipment grants using license fees, appropriations, donations, and interest. Uncommitted money from the prior fund III transfers July 1, 2025, or as soon afterward as practical. Grant spending requires legislative appropriations; applicants must be licensed agencies, show need, and obtain local government endorsement. The Division can waive endorsement when it is withheld without justification. The state keeps a security interest in purchased vehicles, allowing it to enforce its financial claim.
Existing driver fees support emergency services
The listed driver license, permit, and vehicle registration fees do not increase; the law directs revenue to emergency medical funds. The standard covered registration fee remains $1.25: counties retain $0.25, and the state fund gets $1.00. Registrations under Idaho Code 49-402B remain $2.50: counties retain $0.50, and the state fund gets $2.00. Depending on license type, $0.50–$4 goes to the services fund and $1–$8 to vehicle and equipment grants. A commercial learner’s permit directs $4 to the grant fund.
State fund supports emergency service grants
The law creates an Emergency Medical Services Fund supported by vehicle and license fees, appropriations, donations, and interest. Uncommitted balances from prior funds transfer July 1, 2025, or as soon afterward as practical; spending requires legislative appropriations. Sustainability grants, when funded, require licensed agencies authorized for 911 response. Agencies must certify billing insurers for at least 80% of eligible billable services in the prior year. New agencies must certify current billing and plans to reach 80%; endorsing counties must ensure countywide emergency medical service availability.
Unlicensed emergency care brings criminal penalties
Practicing or attempting to practice as a licensed emergency medical provider without a valid, unrestricted license is a misdemeanor. Each violation carries up to $500 in fines, six months in jail, or both. Running an unlicensed emergency medical agency carries up to $1,000 in fines, six months in jail, or both. Each day an agency violation continues counts as a separate offense. These penalties target unlicensed providers and operators, not patients.
Emergency care gets limited consent protection
Licensed emergency workers, Idaho physicians, and Idaho hospitals receive limited protection from lawsuits over missing patient consent. The patient must be unable to consent, with no legally authorized person reasonably available. Providers must act in good faith and know of no facts showing consent is absent. The protection covers claims based solely on failure to obtain consent, not every claim about the care.
Emergency agencies face licensing and reviews
Ambulance, air medical, and nontransport agencies need state licenses and inspections at least annually; specified minimum standards allow waiver requests. The Military Division can deny, revoke, or refuse renewal, impose probation or fines, and consider reinstatement one year after revocation. Denied applicants have 42 days to request administrative review, followed by a public hearing within 28 days of the request. The Division must decide within 28 days after the hearing officer’s recommendation; an upheld denial can be appealed. Peer review rules cover licensed providers, ambulance-based clinicians, and ambulance and nontransport services; organizations must report worker discipline within 15 days.
Emergency workers provide physician authorized care
The Military Division sets which treatments licensed emergency medical workers can provide. Treatments require written or spoken authorization from a licensed physician. The law does not prohibit or penalize authorized emergency care under an Idaho-licensed physician’s responsible supervision and control.
Hospitals gain verified emergency care labels
A governor-appointed council oversees a voluntary statewide system for trauma, stroke, and heart attack care, with regional committees. Members serve four-year terms, and the governor appoints the chair for two years. Hospitals can apply for official designations after verification that they meet the council’s standards. Periodic reviews can lead to probation, suspension, revocation, or denial for false information or substantial failure to meet standards. Hospitals cannot advertise an Idaho designation without receiving it.
Hospitals report emergencies with privacy safeguards
The Military Division or its contractor maintains a registry tracking trauma, strokes, heart attacks, and the health system’s response. Every licensed Idaho hospital must report qualifying cases within 180 days of treatment, including required child-specific data. The Division must supply data tools, technical help, and funding or staff when needed; no amount is stated. Registry records generally remain confidential, with controlled research and registry exchanges and publication of data stripped of identifying details. Lawsuit disclosures require a court order, safeguards, and destruction when the information is no longer needed.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
TRANSPORTATION AND DEFENSE COMMITTEE
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
Carl J. Bjerke
Republican • Senate
Mark Sauter
Republican • House
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 3/10/2025
Senate Floor Vote
Yes: 31 • No: 3
House vote • 2/26/2025
House Floor Vote
Yes: 53 • No: 15
Actions Timeline
Reported Signed by Governor on March 18, 2025 Session Law Chapter 94 Effective: 07/01/2025 SECTION 1 through 49; 08/01/2025 SECTION 50, 51, & 52
3/19/2025Delivered to Governor at 11:58 a.m. on March 12, 2025
3/13/2025Returned Signed by the President; Ordered Transmitted to Governor
3/12/2025SenateSigned by President; returned to House
3/11/2025SenateReceived from the House enrolled/signed by Speaker
3/11/2025SenateReported Enrolled; Signed by Speaker; Transmitted to Senate
3/11/2025HouseReturned from Senate Passed; to JRA for Enrolling
3/10/2025HouseRead third time in full – PASSED - 31-3-1
3/10/2025SenateRead second time; filed for Third Reading
3/4/2025SenateReported out of Committee with Do Pass Recommendation; Filed for second reading
3/3/2025SenateIntroduced, read first time; referred to: State Affairs
2/27/2025SenateReceived from the House passed; filed for first reading
2/27/2025SenateRead Third Time in Full – PASSED - 53-15-2
2/26/2025HouseU.C. to hold place on third reading calendar one legislative day
2/25/2025HouseRead second time; Filed for Third Reading
2/24/2025HouseReported out of Committee with Do Pass Recommendation, Filed for Second Reading
2/21/2025HouseReported Printed and Referred to Transportation & Defense
2/12/2025HouseIntroduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing
2/11/2025House
Bill Text
Bill Text
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