2017 New York Laws
VAW - Volunteer Ambulance Workers' Benefit
Article 3 - Liability for Benefits; Insurance
30 - 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.
