Purpose

To create an ambulance service Training and Staffing Grant Program that helps ambulance services pay for training their employees as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and to staff their services. The bill also provides state funding for this program.

What the bill would do (Main Provisions)

• Establish a Grant Program: The director must establish and administer a program to award grants to eligible ambulance services for costs to train employees as EMTs and to staff the ambulance service.
• Define Eligible Services: To qualify, an ambulance service must be licensed and, in the calendar year before applying, have had at least 50% of its staffing provided by EMTs.
• Application Requirements: Eligible ambulance services must apply with details chosen by the director, including how many people they plan to hire with the grant and how many employee training hours will be funded.
• Allowable Uses of Grant Money:
  • Tuition for EMT education programs approved by the director.
  • Employee examination fees for EMT certification.
  • Fees for background studies for new EMT employees.
  • Wage and benefit costs for employees while attending EMT education or related activities.
  • Wage costs must be at least consistent with entry-level EMT wages and must not exceed $26 per hour.
• Grant Amounts: The grant amount awarded may not exceed the costs described above.
• Program Oversight: Ambulance services receiving grants must provide information to the director to help administer and evaluate the program.

Funding and Timing

• Appropriation: The program is funded with $750,000 in fiscal year 2026 and $750,000 in fiscal year 2027 from the general fund, allocated to the Office of Emergency Medical Services for this program.

How the Program Works in Practice

• The director administers the program and reviews applications from licensed ambulance services.
• Eligible services commit to using the funds for EMT training and related staffing costs and to report information as requested for program oversight.
• The program helps increase EMT training and staffing levels in ambulance services over the specified funding years.

Significant Changes to Law

• Creates a new statutory program: Ambulance Service Training and Staffing Grant Program, codified as Minnesota Statutes section 144E.38.
• Establishes a defined funding stream (general fund appropriations) for emergency medical services to support EMT training and staffing.

Relevant Terms - Ambulance service - Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - EMT education program - Background studies - EMT certification - wage and benefit costs - $26 per hour wage cap - grant program - director (of the Office of Emergency Medical Services) - Minnesota Statutes section 144E.38 - general fund - appropriation - fiscal year 2026 - fiscal year 2027 - licensed ambulance service - staffing provided by EMTs - training hours - program oversight - eligibility criteria

Relevant Terms (synonyms/related concepts) - emergency response workforce - ambulance staffing - EMT training funding - background check fees - certification expenses - wage subsidies - government grant program - public health funding