2006 New York Code - Liability For And Payment Of Benefits.

 
    § 30. Liability  for  and  payment  of  benefits.  Except as otherwise
  provided in article five of the workers' compensation law and in section
  twenty-one of this chapter:
    1. If at the time of injury  the  volunteer  ambulance  worker  was  a
  member  of  an  ambulance  company  of  a county, city, town, village or
  ambulance district ambulance department, any benefit under this  chapter
  shall  be a county, city, town, village or ambulance district charge, as
  the case may be, and any claim therefor shall be  audited  in  the  same
  manner  as  other  claims  against  the  county,  city, town, village or
  ambulance district and the amount thereof shall be raised  and  paid  in
  the  same  manner  as  other  county,  city,  town, village or ambulance
  district charges.
    2. If at the time of injury  the  volunteer  ambulance  worker  was  a
  member  of  an  ambulance  company incorporated under the not-for-profit
  corporation law, or any other law, and located in a  city,  village,  or
  ambulance   district,  protected  under  a  contract  by  the  ambulance
  department or ambulance company of which the volunteer ambulance  worker
  was a member, any benefit under this chapter shall be a city, village or
  ambulance  district  charge,  as the case may be, and any claim therefor
  shall be audited in the same manner as other claims  against  the  city,
  village or ambulance district and the amount thereof shall be raised and
  paid  in  the  same  manner as other city, village or ambulance district
  charges.
    3. If at the time of injury  the  volunteer  ambulance  worker  was  a
  member  of a voluntary ambulance service as defined in subdivision three
  of section three thousand one  of  the  public  health  law,  registered
  pursuant  to the provisions of section three thousand four of the public
  health law or certified pursuant to  the  provisions  of  section  three
  thousand six of the public health law and organized as an unincorporated
  association  or  duly  incorporated  under  the  laws  of this state not
  protected under a  contract  by  the  county,  city,  town,  village  or
  ambulance  district, any benefit under this chapter shall be a voluntary
  ambulance service charge and any claim therefor shall be audited in  the
  same  manner as other claims against the voluntary ambulance service and
  the amount thereof shall be raised and paid in the same manner as  other
  voluntary  ambulance  service charges. No charge shall be made against a
  voluntary ambulance service that  does  not  have  coverage  under  this
  chapter.
    4.  If  at  the  time  of  injury the volunteer ambulance worker was a
  member of an ambulance company  incorporated  under  the  not-for-profit
  corporation  law,  or  any  other  law,  and  located outside of a city,
  village or ambulance district any benefit under this chapter shall be  a
  town charge and any claim therefor shall be audited and paid in the same
  manner  as  town charges and the amount thereof raised upon the property
  liable to taxation in such outside territory protected by such ambulance
  company in the same manner as town charges therein are raised.
    5. If at the time of injury  the  volunteer  ambulance  worker  was  a
  member  of an ambulance company or ambulance department operating in, or
  maintained jointly by two or more villages, or two or more towns, or two
  or more ambulance districts, any benefit under this chapter shall  be  a
  charge  against  such  villages,  towns  or  ambulance districts, in the
  proportion that the full valuation of taxable real estate in each  bears
  to  the  aggregate full valuation of the taxable real estate of all such
  villages, towns or ambulance districts and the amount thereof  shall  be
  audited,  raised  and  paid in the same manner as other village, town or
  ambulance district  charges.  Full  valuation  shall  be  determined  by
  dividing  the  assessed  valuations  of taxable real estate of each such
  village, town or ambulance district as shown  by  the  latest  completed
  assessment  roll  of  the  village,  town  or  ambulance district by the
  equalization rate established by the authorized state agency or  officer
  for such roll; provided, however, in a county having a county department
  of  assessment the full valuation in towns and ambulance districts shall
  be determined by applying the state equalization  rate  established  for
  the town, or the town in which the ambulance district is located, to the
  appropriate portion of the last completed county roll.
    6.   Any political subdivision may finance the payment of any benefits
  to be paid and provided under this chapter by  the  issuance  of  serial
  bonds  or  capital  notes pursuant to the local finance law unless it is
  required by some law, other than this chapter, to pay such benefits from
  current funds.
    7. Any political subdivision may contract for  insurance  indemnifying
  against  the  liability  imposed  by  this  chapter and the cost of such
  insurance shall be audited, raised  and  paid  in  the  same  manner  as
  benefits are required to be audited, raised and paid in this section.
    8.  Insurance authorized to be purchased pursuant to subdivision seven
  of this section may  be  secured  from  the  state  fund  or  any  stock
  corporation,  mutual  corporation,  group  self-insurers  or  reciprocal
  insurer authorized to transact the business of workers' compensation  in
  this state.  If such insurance is not secured, the political subdivision
  liable shall be deemed to have elected to be a self-insurer unless it is
  a  participant  in  a county plan of self-insurance or its liability for
  benefits under this chapter is covered by a town's  participation  in  a
  county plan of self-insurance as provided in subdivision nine of section
  sixty-three  of  the  workers' compensation law. Every such self-insurer
  shall file with the chair of the workers' compensation board a notice of
  such election prescribed in form by such chair. For failure to file such
  notice within ten days after such election is  made,  the  treasurer  or
  other  fiscal  officer  of such political subdivision shall be liable to
  pay to the chair of the workers'  compensation  board  the  sum  of  one
  hundred dollars as a penalty, to be transferred to the state treasury. A
  notice of election to be a self-insurer for compensation and benefits to
  volunteer  ambulance  workers  under  the  provisions  of  the  workers'
  compensation law and the general municipal law in effect prior to  March
  first,  in  the year of enactment of this chapter, which was filed prior
  to such date pursuant to the provisions of subdivision four  of  section
  fifty  of  the workers' compensation law as in effect prior to such date
  shall be deemed to be a notice of  election  filed  under  this  section
  unless  the  chair of the workers' compensation board is notified to the
  contrary. The provisions of subdivision five of  section  fifty  of  the
  workers' compensation law shall be applicable to such self-insurers.
    9.  The  governing  board  of  a  political subdivision liable for the
  payment of such benefits may authorize the  treasurer  or  other  fiscal
  officer  thereof  to  pay  the  financial  benefits provided for in this
  chapter to the person entitled thereto without waiting for an  award  in
  any  case  in the manner provided in section forty-nine of this chapter.
  The amount payable prior to an  award  pursuant  to  such  authorization
  shall constitute a settled claim within the meaning of the local finance
  law.
    10.  A  contract  for  ambulance  service,  for  the  purposes of this
  section, shall be deemed in full force and effect  if  negotiations  are
  pending for the renewal thereof.
    11.  Where  a  city,  village, ambulance district or town is furnished
  service by an ambulance  company,  ambulance  department,  or  any  unit
  thereof  pursuant to a contract entered into prior to the enactment date
  of this chapter with another city, village, ambulance  district,  or  an
  incorporated ambulance company having its headquarters outside the city,
  village  or  ambulance district receiving such service and the liability
  for benefits under this  chapter  in  relation  to  volunteer  ambulance
  workers  rendering  such  service pursuant to such contract on and after
  the  enactment  date of this chapter is not covered pursuant to a county
  self-insurance plan pursuant to  section  sixty-three  of  the  workers'
  compensation  law,  the  contract  may be amended after a public hearing
  held in the manner provided  by  law  for  the  amendment  of  any  such
  contract,  or  at the option of the contracting parties without a public
  hearing, to provide for  payment  by  the  city,  village  or  ambulance
  district receiving such service to the city, village, ambulance district
  or   town   in   which  such  incorporated  ambulance  company  has  its
  headquarters, of a sum in addition to the amount to  be  paid  for  such
  service  pursuant  to the contract, to provide for any increase in cost,
  or new or added cost, to such city, village, ambulance district or  town
  for  insurance coverage for liability for benefits under this chapter on
  and after the enactment date of this chapter, by reason of  the  service
  rendered  pursuant  to  such  contract.  Where  such service is received
  pursuant to a contract entered into prior to the enactment date of  this
  chapter  with  an incorporated ambulance company having its headquarters
  outside the city, village or ambulance district receiving such  service,
  then  whether  or  not  such  contract  is  amended  as provided in this
  section, or a contract entered into on or after the  enactment  date  of
  this  chapter  so  provides,  a  city,  village  or  ambulance  district
  receiving such service on and after the enactment date of  this  chapter
  pursuant  to  a  contract,  shall  pay  to  the city, village, ambulance
  district or town in which such incorporated ambulance  company  has  its
  headquarters a sum in addition to the amount to be paid for such service
  pursuant to the contract, to provide for any increase in cost, or new or
  added  cost,  to  such  city,  village,  ambulance  district or town for
  insurance coverage for the liability for benefits under this chapter  on
  and  after  the  enactment date of this chapter by reason of the service
  rendered pursuant to such contract. Any  such  additional  sum  so  paid
  shall  not  be subject to division with a volunteer ambulance company as
  otherwise provided by law in the case of contracts for such service.