A. The "emergency medical services fund" is created in the state treasury. Money in the fund shall not revert at the end of any fiscal year. Money appropriated to the fund or accruing to it through gifts, grants, fees or bequests shall be deposited in the fund. Interest earned on investment of the fund shall be credited to the general fund. Disbursements from the fund shall be made upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the secretary or the secretary's authorized representative.

B. The bureau shall administer the fund and provide for the distribution of the fund pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services Fund Act and rules adopted pursuant to the provisions of that act.

C. In any fiscal year, no less than seventy-five percent of the money in the fund shall be used for the local emergency medical services funding program to support the cost of supplies and equipment and operational costs other than salaries and benefits for emergency medical services personnel. This money shall be distributed to municipalities and counties on behalf of eligible local recipients, using a formula established pursuant to rules adopted by the department. The formula shall determine each municipality's and county's share of the fund based on the relative geographic size and population of each county. The formula shall also base the distribution of money for each municipality and county on the relative number of runs of each local recipient eligible to participate in the distribution.

D. In any fiscal year, no more than:

(1) twenty-two percent of the fund may be used for emergency medical services system improvement projects, including the purchase of emergency medical services vehicles, local and statewide emergency medical services system support projects, the statewide trauma care system program and the emergency medical dispatch agency support program; and

(2) three percent of the fund may be used by the bureau for administrative costs, including monitoring and providing technical assistance.

E. In any fiscal year, money in the fund that is not distributed pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of this section may be distributed pursuant to the provisions of Subsection C of this section.

History: 1978 Comp., § 24-10A-3, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 178, § 3; 1987, ch. 246, § 3; 1989, ch. 324, § 18; 1994, ch. 61, § 3; 2001, ch. 258, § 3; 2001, ch. 273, § 3; 2017, ch. 87, § 24.

The 2017 amendment, effective June, 16, 2017, removed the provision allowing emergency medical services regional offices to use funds from the emergency medical services fund for administrative costs; in Subsection A, after "signed by the secretary or", deleted "his" and added "the secretary's"; and in Subsection D(2), after "used by the bureau", deleted "and emergency medical services regional offices".

The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, inserted "and the emergency medical dispatch agency support program" at the end of Paragraph D(1) and inserted "and emergency medical services regional offices" in Paragraph D(2).

Laws 2001, ch. 258, § 3 and Laws 2001, ch. 273, § 3 enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 2001, ch. 273, § 3. See 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.

The 1994 amendment, effective July 1, 1994, rewrote Subsection A, deleted former Subsections B and D, rewrote and redesignated former Subsection C as Subsection B, and added Subsections C to E.