Section 3005-A. Staffing standards; ambulance services and advanced life support first response services

1. The following  staffing  standards
  shall be in effect unless otherwise provided by this section:
    (a) effective January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven the minimum
  staffing  standard  for  a  registered  ambulance  service  shall  be  a
  certified first responder with the patient;
    (b) effective  January  first,  two  thousand,  the  minimum  staffing
  standard for a voluntary ambulance service shall be an emergency medical
  technician with the patient;
    (c)  the  minimum  staffing  standard for all other ambulance services
  shall be an emergency medical technician with the patient; and
    (d) the minimum staffing standard for an advanced life  support  first
  response  service shall be an advanced emergency medical technician with
  the patient. Circumstances permitting other than advanced  life  support
  care  by  an  advanced  life  support  first  response  service  may  be
  established by rule by the state council, subject to the approval of the
  commissioner.
    2. Any service granted an exemption by the regional  council  pursuant
  to  subdivision  five-a  of section three thousand three of this article
  shall be subject to the standards and terms of the exemption.
    3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the  effective
  date  of  the  standards established by this section shall be delayed by
  one year for each fiscal year, prior to January first, two thousand,  in
  which  the amounts appropriated are less than that which would have been
  expended pursuant to the provisions of  section  ninety-seven-q  of  the
  state finance law.