House committee advances bill to create long-term grant structure for rural EMS; A2 amendment adopted

The House committee adopted an A2 amendment to House File 337 and laid the bill over as amended for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill, after hearing testimony that rural ambulance services across Greater Minnesota face persistent operating deficits and staffing shortfalls.

The bill’s author, Representative Zalesnikar, told the committee the proposal would create a new coding method and a pathway to identify ambulance services with operating deficits, require audited financials for those providers and establish a grant program to direct funds where data show they are needed.

"As we go forward, we are clear that Greater Minnesota is having an operating deficit," Representative Zalesnikar said. She told members the bill would make larger population centers — the seven-county metro, Duluth, Mankato, Rochester and St. Cloud — ineligible for grants under the program as drafted, and that the proposal remains under development.

In testimony supporting the bill, Eric Simonson, representing the Coalition of Greater Minnesota…