By:  Barrientos                                        S.B. No. 184
       73R2179 RWS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the regulation of certain air transfer vehicles as
    1-3  emergency medical services vehicles.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 773.004(a), Health and Safety Code, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  This chapter does not apply to:
    1-8              (1)  a ground <or air> transfer vehicle and staff used
    1-9  to transport a patient who is under a physician's care between
   1-10  medical facilities or between a medical facility and a private
   1-11  residence;
   1-12              (2)  ground or air transfer that does not advertise as
   1-13  an ambulance service and that is not licensed by the department;
   1-14              (3)  the use of ground or air transfer vehicles to
   1-15  transport sick or injured persons in a casualty situation that
   1-16  exceeds the basic vehicular capacity or capability of emergency
   1-17  medical services providers in the area;
   1-18              (4)  an industrial ambulance; or
   1-19              (5)  a physician, registered nurse, or other health
   1-20  care practitioner licensed by this state unless the health care
   1-21  practitioner staffs an emergency medical services vehicle
   1-22  regularly.
   1-23        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   1-24  However, a person is not required to obtain a license required
    2-1  under this Act until January 1, 1994.
    2-2        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-4  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    2-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.