Panel votes to add EMS representation to Alzheimer's subcommittee after clarifying fiscal-note discrepancy

The House committee approved Senate Bill 202 to add emergency medical services representation to the state's subcommittee on Alzheimer's and related dementias and to include an Alzheimer's Association representative on the state Emergency Medical and Trauma Services coordinating board.

Committee members raised a fiscal-note discrepancy: an earlier draft of the bill submitted to legislative staff included language about training and education for fire and EMS personnel, which generated a fiscal estimate; the introduced version of the bill, committee sponsors said, did not include the training requirement. "When the bill actually was introduced ... is solely adding a member of the EMS community to the subcommittee on Alzheimer's and other related dementia," Jenny Horgan, senior policy manager for the Alzheimer's Association, told the committee, explaining that training work is proceeding through the medical-control and EMS oversight process rather than through statute.

The committee also heard that the subcommittee already studies state plans, community impacts and services for people living with dementia and that adding EMS representation would create a formal channel for collaboration between EMS personnel and Alzheimer's advocates.

The committee voted 18–0 to report SB202 ought to pass. Members asked sponsors to continue coordination with the Department of Safety, EMS stakeholders and the Alzheimer's Association about any training and scope-of-practice work that could follow outside the bill.

Committee members encouraged continued work through existing boards and noted that the introduced bill focuses on representation and review duties rather than imposing a new training mandate.