Calif. Gov. Vetoes Community Paramedic Legislation

While Gov. Brown supports the current pilot program in California, he foresees some issues with the new bill. The following is Governor Brown's statement regarding Assembly Bill 3115:
 

To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 3115 without my signature.

This bill would permit local emergency medical services agencies to develop community paramedicine programs under prescribed state rules.

Through the health workforce pilot project started in 2014, local community paramedicine programs are using paramedics to assist in the transportation and care of patients in settings other than an emergency room. While this bill has the good intention of making the pilot project permanent, it restricts the types of facilities to which patients can be transported. It also limits the discretion of local governments to design and manage their projects in the way they think best.

I support these innovative local efforts and believe they should be expanded but without the restrictions contained in this bill. To achieve that, I am directing the continuation of the existing pilot project and encouraging all of the interested parties to work together to make this program permanent.  

Sincerely,

Edmund G. Brown Jr.
 

For more information on California's community paramedicine pilot program, click here.