Relates to the establishment of special districts for general ambulance services in any county, city, town or village located within the Adirondack park; requires a report on issues of volunteer firefighter and ambulance services staffing.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9337
SPONSOR: Solages TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to the establish-
ment of special districts for general ambulance services within the
Adirondack park; and to amend the executive law, in relation to a report
on volunteer firefighter and ambulance services staffing
PURPOSE:
This bill would authorize municipalities to establish a special district
for general ambulance services, and would require a report by the
commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services
to identify challenges concerning volunteer emergency services or
personnel.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 -This bill would allow any county, city, town or village, to
establish a special district for the financing and operation of general
ambulance services. '
Section 2 - This bill would also require a report with recommendations
on volunteer firefighter and ambulances services by the commissioner of
the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
Section 3 -Provides effective date
JUSTIFICATION:
Article 11 of the Town Law governs the requirements to form a fire
district. Presently, a town board or village board of trustees may
establish a joint fire district, when the territory in the joint fire
district is contiguous. However, for a town to establish a new fire
district, it must be outside of any village or city. This restriction
creates difficulty for districts in rural communities or those with
unique geography such as waterways or mountains, as transportation
networks can be limited and response times unavoidably delayed. This
difficulty has led to difficulty obtaining volunteer crews, as each
individual crew member can be required to cover more territory and put
in more hours than in other areas of the state.
According to the New York State Department,of Health, a 2013 analysis
showed that the average scene to destination time throughout New York
State was 13.16 minutes. However, in the Adirondack mountain region, for
instance, it was significantly higher in many areas, with the average
scene to destination time in Clinton County being 17.77 minutes, Essex
County 25.55 minutes, Franklin County 18.32 minutes, Hamilton County
53.46 minutes, and Warren County 21.59 minutes. These delayed response
times pose a great threat to saving lives, protecting property and
encouraging the recruitment and retention of volunteers.
This bill seeks to address this issue in two ways. First, it would allow
a municipality to establish a special district with any county, city,
town, or village, thereby allowing communities to establish districts
with economies of scale and participants, in an effort to increase the
quality of emergency protection services.
Second, it would further require a study by the Division of Homeland
Security and Emergency Services, calling upon its experts in the state
office of fire prevention and control, to investigate, report and make
recommendations on how to encourage recruitment of crews and improved
response times for their operations.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2025: S2658referred to local government; A3432referred to local govern-
ment
2023-2024: S3039referred to Local Government;A2812referred to Local
Governments
2022/2021: S5331referred to Local Government;A857referred to Local
Government
2020/2019: S1996referred to Local Governments;A1577 referred to Local
Governments
2018: S7443 passed Senate; A9589 referred to Local Governments
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act would take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9337
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
December 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to the establish-
ment of special districts for general ambulance services within the
Adirondack park; and to amend the executive law, in relation to a
report on volunteer firefighter and ambulance services staffing
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the
2 general municipal law, as amended by chapter 303 of the laws of 1980, is
3 amended, paragraphs (e) and (f) are relettered paragraphs (f) and (g),
4 and a new closing paragraph is added to read as follows:
5 (d) Establish a special district for the financing and operation of
6 general ambulance services as set forth by this section, whereby any
7 county, city, town or village, either wholly or partially within the
8 Adirondack park, acting individually, or jointly with any other county,
9 city, town and/or village, either wholly or partially within the Adiron-
10 dack park, through its governing body or bodies, following applicable
11 procedures as are required for the establishment of fire districts in
12 article eleven of the town law or following applicable procedures as are
13 required for the establishment of joint fire districts in article
14 eleven-A of the town law, with such special district being authorized by
15 this section to be established in all or any part of any such partic-
16 ipating county or counties, town or towns, city or cities and/or village
17 or villages;
18 (e) Employ any combination of the methods authorized in paragraph (a),
19 (b) [or], (c) or (d) of this subdivision;
20 Any county, city, town or village which establishes or participates in
21 a joint district pursuant to paragraph (d) of this subdivision shall
22 dissolve and abolish any preexisting local district serving the same
23 jurisdiction.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05550-01-5
A. 9337 2
1 § 2. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 720 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 720. Report on volunteer firefighter and ambulance services staff-
4 ing. 1. On or before the first day of January, two thousand twenty-sev-
5 en, the commissioner, in consultation with the state office of fire
6 prevention and control, shall prepare and publish a report on the staff-
7 ing of volunteer firefighter and ambulance services in New York state.
8 Such report shall examine and evaluate the challenges and issues
9 concerning the recruiting and maintenance of trained, available staffing
10 by volunteer fire departments, districts and companies as well as for
11 volunteer ambulance districts and companies. Such report shall specif-
12 ically examine and evaluate the challenges and issues that are partic-
13 ular to rural areas of the state and areas with geographic challenges
14 such as mountains, waterways or limited transportation networks.
15 2. In addition to identifying challenges and issues concerning the
16 recruiting and maintenance of trained, available staffing by volunteer
17 fire departments, districts and companies as well as for volunteer ambu-
18 lance districts and companies across New York state, as required by
19 subdivision one of this section, such report shall also make recommenda-
20 tions on how to address and remediate the challenges and issues identi-
21 fied, with such recommendations being submitted to the governor, the
22 temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the
23 chair of the senate standing committee on local government and the chair
24 of the assembly standing committee on local government at the time of
25 the publishing of the report.
26 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however that the
27 amendments to paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the
28 general municipal law made by section one of this act shall survive the
29 expiration and reversion of such section as provided in section 4 of
30 part KK of chapter 55 of the laws of 2022, as amended.
