Introduced Version
HOUSE BILL No. 1220
_____
DIGEST OF INTRODUCED BILL
Citations Affected: IC 36-8-14.5.
Synopsis: Insurance for volunteer EMTs. Requires a county,
municipality, or township that uses a volunteer ambulance company to
purchase a policy of insurance to cover each volunteer emergency
medical technician who is a member of the volunteer ambulance
company.
Effective: January 1, 2005.
January 15, 2004, read first time and referred to Committee on Local Government.
Introduced
Second Regular Session 113th General Assembly (2004)
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HOUSE BILL No. 1220
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning local
government.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
SOURCE: IC 36-8-14.5; (04)IN1220.1.1. -->
SECTION 1. IC 36-8-14.5 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA CODE
AS A
NEW CHAPTER TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
JANUARY 1, 2005]:
Chapter 14.5. Volunteer Emergency Medical Technicians
Sec. 1. This chapter applies to all units.
Sec. 2. As used in this chapter, "member" means a person:
(1) who, as a result of a written application, has been elected
or appointed to membership with a provider;
(2) who, without compensation or with only nominal
compensation, performs the work related duties assigned and
orders given to the person by the chief executive officer of the
provider, including orders or duties involving education and
training as prescribed by the provider or the state; and
(3) whose name has been entered on a roster of volunteer
emergency medical technicians that is kept by the provider
and that has been approved by the proper officers of the
provider.
Sec. 3. As used in this chapter, "nominal compensation" means
an annual compensation of not more than three thousand five
hundred dollars ($3,500).
Sec. 4. As used in this chapter, "provider" means a volunteer
ambulance company that has as a member an emergency medical
technician or other person working in a volunteer capacity.
Sec. 5. As used in this chapter, "volunteer ambulance company"
means a department or an association:
(1) that is:
(A) organized as a nonprofit corporation or an
unincorporated association; or
(B) created by a governmental unit;
to provide emergency medical services, including
transportation of ill or injured persons; and
(2) in which the majority of members of the department or
association:
(A) do not receive compensation; or
(B) receive only nominal compensation for the members'
services.
Sec. 6. (a) Each unit that has a provider shall procure insurance
in the name of and for the benefit of each member. However, if a
contract or an agreement exists between a unit and a provider, the
contract or agreement must provide for insurance of the provider's
members in the amounts, and including the coverage, required by
this chapter.
(b) Unless the contract or agreement stipulates otherwise, all
insurance coverage required under this chapter must be purchased
under a group plan. Either the unit or the provider, according to
the contract or agreement, may undertake procurement of the
required insurance. In either case, the costs of coverage must be
borne by the unit. If a provider serves more than one (1) unit under
a contract or an agreement, each unit that the provider serves shall
pay the amount for the insurance coverage determined under the
following formula:
STEP ONE: For each census block or other area in a unit that
is served by more than one (1) provider, divide the population
of the area by the number of providers serving the area and
round the quotient to the nearest one-thousandth (0.001).
STEP TWO: Add the quotients determined under STEP ONE
for the unit.
STEP THREE: Determine the sum of the STEP TWO
amounts for all the units served by the same provider.
STEP FOUR: Divide the STEP TWO amount for a unit by the
STEP THREE amount and round the quotient to the nearest
one-thousandth (0.001).
STEP FIVE: Multiply the costs of the insurance coverage for
the provider by the quotient determined under STEP FOUR,
rounded to the nearest dollar.
(c) A diminution of insurance benefits shall not be allowed to
occur under this section because of a change in the insurance
carrier or a change as to the person that actually procures the
required insurance.
Sec. 7. A policy of insurance required by this chapter must
provide for payment to a member working for a provider, for
accidental injury caused by or occurring in the course of the
performance of the duties of a member, and for a cardiac disease
event proximately caused by and occurring within forty-eight (48)
hours of or occurring in the course of the performance of the duties
of a member, of the following:
(1) For total disability that prevents the member from
pursuing the member's usual vocation, a weekly indemnity of
at least two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for a maximum of
two hundred sixty (260) weeks.
(2) For medical expenses, coverage for incurred expenses.
However, the policy may not contain medical expense limits
of less than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000).
Sec. 8. A policy of insurance required by this chapter must
provide for the payment of at least one hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($150,000) to the beneficiary, the beneficiaries, or the estate
of a member if the member dies from:
(1) an injury sustained while in the performance of the
member's duties as a volunteer emergency medical
technician; or
(2) a cardiac disease event:
(A) proximately caused by, and occurring within
forty-eight (48) hours of; or
(B) occurring while in;
the performance of the member's duties as a volunteer
emergency medical technician.
Sec. 9. (a) A policy of insurance required by this chapter must
provide for the payment of at least one hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($150,000) to the member if the member becomes totally
and permanently disabled for a continuous period of at least two
hundred sixty (260) weeks as a result of an injury occurring in the
performance of the member's duties as a volunteer emergency
medical technician. An amount paid to a member under section
7(1) of this chapter is a credit against benefits payable under this
subsection.
(b) The policy of insurance must also provide for
indemnification to a member who becomes partially and
permanently disabled or impaired as a result of an injury
occurring in the performance of the member's duties as a volunteer
emergency medical technician.
(c) For purposes of this section, partial and permanent disability
or impairment must be indemnified as a percentage factor of a
whole person.
Sec. 10. All expenses incurred for premiums of the insurance
required by this chapter must be paid out of the general fund of the
unit in the same manner as other expenses of the unit are paid.
Sec. 11. If:
(1) a unit fails to provide for a member the insurance required
by this chapter; and
(2) a member suffers a loss of the type that the insurance
would have covered;
the unit shall pay to the member the amount of money that the
insurance would have paid to the member.
Sec. 12. (a) Each unit that has a provider may procure an
insurance policy or another type of instrument that provides
retirement benefits as an incentive to members for continued
service.
(b) An insurance policy or other instrument containing
provisions authorized by subsection (a) may not be considered in
the computation of nominal compensation for purposes of this
chapter.
(c) A member who is covered by an insurance policy or other
instrument containing provisions authorized by subsection (a) is
not eligible for membership in the public employees' retirement
fund under IC 5-10.3 on the basis of that coverage.
Sec. 13. Each unit that has a provider may procure an insurance
policy for the benefit of auxiliary groups whose members could be
injured while assisting the provider's members in the performance
of the provider's members' duties.