N.Y. Volunteer Ambulance Workers' Benefit Law § 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 or is a participant in a

public group self-insurance plan established under subdivision three-a

of section fifty 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.