Senate committee advances ambulance payment rules, EMS enforcement, school epinephrine and other health measures

The Senate Health and Human Services Standing Committee on March 12, 2025, unanimously recommended a package of health bills to the full Senate, including measures on ambulance provider payments (HB 301 third substitute), emergency medical services enforcement and a new critical‑needs account (HB 391 first substitute), expanded authority for use of new epinephrine delivery forms in schools (HB 333 first substitute), coordination pilots for mental health in criminal justice settings (HB 63 third substitute), administrative Health and Human Services code updates (HB 434 second substitute), a presumption-of-state-jurisdiction resolution (HB 380), and odor‑mitigation and operating-plan requirements for cannabis production in industrial zones (HB 343).

Committee leaders and bill sponsors said the measures were the product of extended stakeholder work and technical drafting. Representative Malloy, sponsor of the ambulance payment bill, described HB 301 as a package to “ensure fair and transparent ambulance pricing in Utah by setting sustainable base rates for transport, mileage, and medications,” and said the measure also “prohibits balance billing.”

The committee’s action moves each bill to the Senate floor for debate by the full body.

Why it matters: Several of the bills make changes that affect emergency care delivery or access to life‑saving medicines. HB 301 changes how ambulance services are paid and adds a medication price cap and a mileage rate; HB 391 gives the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services additional enforcement tools and authorizes fines to create an emergency medical critical needs account; HB 333 updates school code to allow non‑injectable rescue medication delivery systems that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved; HB 63 asks the Behavioral Health Crisis Response Committee to plan pilots to improve coordination between mental‑health and criminal‑justice systems.

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