Legislative Alert - Save the NJ EMT Training Fund!
News Flash, Monday, June 22
As you may have heard, the Corzine Adminisitraion has "found" between $4 and 7 hundred million of unexpected revenue. Several legislators have been keeping this issue front and center in Trenton. Last Monday, Senators Loretta Weinberg ( D ) and Tom Kean ( R ) both addressed the issue in the Senate Health Committee so Trenton knows it's still a hot issue.
The Assembly and Senate Budget Committees met today to again try and pass the budget. Please e-mail or call your legislators and ask them to support putting money back into the volunteer EMT Training Fund. Don't give a specific amount, just ask that they support putting money back in. Two budget resolutions that have been introduced:
- Senate Budget Resolution # 2502 sponsored by Senators Bucco, Haines, Karrow, O'Toole, Oroho and Pennacchio, all Republicans.
- Assembly Budget Resolution # 1503 sponsored by Assemblymen Malone, O'Scanlon, Wolfe and Assemblywoman McHose.
Both prohibit the transfer of funds from the EMT Training Fund to the General Fund. You should ask your legislators to support these resolutions. Getting just some of the money back will put us ahead of were we are now.
PLEASE be polite when you contact their offices. Our Legislative Advocate tells us that so far, she has heard nothing negative about our members and how they have acted when talking to the legislators or their offices. Please help us to keep it that way!
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The New Jersey EMT Training Fund
The EMT Training Fund was established by an act of the state Legislature to cover the cost of training volunteers for EMT-Basic certification as well as the Continuing Education Unit (CEU) training need for re certification. The program is funded through a 50 cent surcharge on all moving violations and has covered the EMT training costs every year since it's inception without the need from supplemental funds from the taxpayer. This is NOT taxpayer money.
The fund has allowed thousands of EMTs to earn and maintain their certification without out of pocket personal expense and without the need for funding from their volunteer squad. As such, the fund has been both a recruitment and retention tool for our many volunteer EMS agencies.
The Problem
On April 23, 2009 New Jersey Governor Corzine announced he would "reallocate" $4 million from this fund to the general treasury in an attempt to relieve the budget crisis.
This action would leave only $27,000 in the EMT Training Fund for the fiscal year starting 7/1/09. Based on last years expenditures, that's a shortfall of at least $ 2.5 million. This action will drain the fund within a few months, discontinue training reimbursement for NJ Volunteer EMTs and force individual volunteers to pay for their own training in addition to the donation of their time they already make to their communities. For many, this economic hardship may be too much to bear. Many volunteer squads may also be unable to cover these training costs during a time of recession when donations that fund most squad operations have fallen.
How You Can Help
Please contact the Governor as well as members of the State Assembly and Senate and let them know that raiding this fund is very short sighted, will hurt the ability of many EMS agencies to respond and in the end will cost everyone in NJ. It is estimated that Volunteer EMS agencies save the taxpayer over $500 million each year. Please be polite when speaking with elected leaders and their staff.
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