Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee advances bill with changes to EMS operations
Idaho state Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, (right) listens to proceedings during the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee meeting on Jan. 7, 2025, at the State Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)
This story was first published by Idaho Reports on March 3, 2025.
Major changes could be coming to emergency medical services in Idaho as the Senate State Affairs Committee advanced a bill that transfers EMS Bureau's responsibilities to the Idaho Military Division.
Idaho has never declared EMS an essential service, such as police and fire. As a result, the state is not required to fund it. For decades, EMS has struggled to find funding, and many agencies rely heavily on volunteers and donations.
This bill moves the Emergency Medical Services Bureau from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and relocates it into the Idaho Military Division. The Military Division already coordinates emergency management with state and local government through the Office of Emergency Management.
The bill still does not deem EMS essential, but calls it 'critical to the life, health, and safety of Idahoans.'
House Bill 206, sponsored by Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, heads to the Senate after it passed the House of Representatives 53-15 last week.
Last year's to bill to fund EMS services, declaring it an essential service, failed to make it out of committee.
Local counties and cities would still have control over their own EMS programs and dispatching 911 calls.
Idaho has 196 cities and 88% of the state is rural, Bjerke said. EMS availability varies widely county by county, and many counties do not have ambulance taxing districts to fund the service in the state.
'It's time for us to decide how we're going to structure EMS in the state,' Bjerke argued.
In 2021, the Office of Performance Evaluations published a report on emergency medical services in rural Idaho, highlighting funding and staffing challenges as well as pointing out that about 7 out of 10 emergency medical workers are volunteers.
Should the bill pass, it would also ask for a shift of funding and $150,000 one-time Emergency Medical Services dedicated fund spending authority to cover the cost of transition expenses, $60,000 to contract with a physician to serve as a part-time state EMS medical director to replace the Idaho Emergency Medical Services Physician Commission.
Overall, the state would still not declare that emergency medical services are essential, but the bill may put agencies in a better position to work together. The bill would not provide new funding for individual agencies.
Kelli Brassfield, policy adviser for the Idaho Association of Counties, testified in support of the bill, saying the majority of counties are supportive. There was no opposition to the bill in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday.
The bill must pass the Senate before heading to Gov. Brad Little for consideration.
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