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Committee hears bill to make paramedic scholarship permanent after early enrollment surge; bill laid over
Summary
House File 1603 would make permanent a paramedic scholarship program created in 2023. Testimony from the Minnesota Ambulance Association and the Office of Emergency Medical Services cited rising paramedic demand and shortfalls; the committee laid the bill over for further fiscal review.
Vice Chair Tony Coulter presented House File 1603 to the Higher Education Committee, asking that the committee lay the bill over. The bill would make permanent the paramedic scholarship program established in the 2023 higher-education budget and funded originally with a one-time appropriation.
Buck Bacalpin of the Minnesota Ambulance Association and Dylan Ferguson, director of the Minnesota Office of Emergency Medical Services, testified that Minnesota faces a growing paramedic shortage and that the scholarship has increased enrollment. "Just in 1 year there were nearly or more than... more than 800 applications for this scholarship, and nearly 300 students received them," Vice Chair Coulter told the committee while introducing testimony. Director Dylan Ferguson said Minnesota has 4,135 paramedics…
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