Conference committee hears legal, local-control concerns about distressed-ambulance program in Senate Bill 2,033

Chair Senator Lee opened a hearing on Senate Bill 2,033 and asked the clerk to call the roll before members heard legal and policy concerns about the bill’s language and timetable.

Allison Hicks, general counsel for the Public Health Division of the Department of Health and Human Services, told the conference committee the draft "creates kind of a parallel disciplinary process" and lacks the due‑process protections found in existing licensure statutes and administrative code. Hicks said the bill as written permits findings of violation or noncompliance to trigger suspension or revocation of an ambulance service license outside the department’s existing operator disciplinary process.

Hicks said the bill would allow a work group made up partly of stakeholders — and, as drafted, possibly local elected officials — to determine that a…