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Committee approves EMS interstate compact to boost cross-border emergency response
Summary
House Bill 1253, adopting the Emergency Medical Services Compact, passed committee. Supporters said joining 24 other states would improve workforce mobility, disaster response and disciplinary information exchange for EMS clinicians.
Rep. Lee Johnson presented an amendment to add a cosponsor, then physicians and EMS leaders testified in support of House Bill 1253 to adopt the EMS interstate compact.
Dr. Brandon Morchetti, an emergency medicine physician and EMS medical director, and a senior EMS clinician described the compact's operational benefits: allowing licensed EMS clinicians from compact states to practice across member states without duplicative licensing, supporting rapid cross-border responses, increasing disciplinary information sharing and aiding recruitment and retention of EMS personnel.
"The EMS compact has been adopted by 24 states already, including all 6 states that touch Arkansas's borders, which unfortunately leaves us kind of isolated and secluded as a non participant," the EMS witness said, urging Arkansas to join to improve border-community response capacity.
Supporters told the committee the compact would increase the available licensed workforce for border communities, reduce duplicate licensing data and aid deployments for multi-casualty incidents without requiring a formal disaster declaration under EMAC. Committee members asked about training and standards; the witness said compact eligibility requires a home-state license obtained by passing a nationally standardized exam.
Representative Johnson moved the amendment adding Sen. Boyd as a cosponsor and the committee approved the amendment by voice vote. The committee then approved the bill by voice vote; no roll-call tally appears in the transcript.
