A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to amend the law governing the volunteer rescue/EMS Fund.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 58‑87‑5 reads as rewritten:
"§ 58‑87‑5.  Volunteer Rescue/EMS Fund.
(a)	There is created in the Department of Insurance the Volunteer Rescue/EMS Fund to provide grants to volunteer rescue units providing rescue or rescue and emergency medical services to purchase equipment and make capital improvements. An eligible rescue or rescue/EMS unit may apply to the Department of Insurance for a grant under this section. The application form and criteria for grants shall be established by the Department. The North Carolina Association of Rescue and Emergency Medical Services, Inc., shall provide the Department with an advisory priority listing for rescue equipment eligible for funding and the  Department of Health and Human Services shall provide the Department with an advisory priority listing of EMS equipment eligible for funding. The State Treasurer shall invest the Fund's assets according to law, and the earnings shall remain in the Fund. On December 15 of each year, the Department shall make grants to eligible rescue or rescue/EMS units subject to all of the following limitations:
(1)	A grant to an applicant who is required to match the grant with non‑State funds may not exceed twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000) and a grant to an applicant who is not required to match the grant with non‑State funds may not exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000).
(2)	An applicant whose liquid assets, when combined with the liquid assets of any corporate affiliate or subsidiary of the applicant, are more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) shall match the grant on a dollar‑for‑dollar basis with non‑State funds.
(3)	The grant may be used only for equipment purchases or capital expenditures.
(4)	An applicant may receive no more than one grant per fiscal year.
In awarding grants under this section, the Department shall to the extent possible select applicants from all parts of the State based upon need. Up to two percent (2%) of the Fund may be used for additional staff and resources to administer the Fund in each fiscal year. In addition, notwithstanding G.S. 58‑78‑20, up to four percent (4%) of the Fund may be used for additional staff and resources for the North Carolina Fire and Rescue Commission.
(b)	A rescue or rescue/EMS unit is eligible for a grant under this section if it meets all of the following conditions:
(1)	Repealed by Session Laws 1989 (Regular Session, 1990), c. 1066, s. 33(a).
(2)	It consists entirely of volunteer members, with the exception that the unit may have paid members to fill the equivalent of  10 full‑time paid positions.
(3)	It has been recognized by the Department as an organization that provides rescue or rescue and emergency medical  services, or emergency medical services only. A department that provides emergency medical services only will be eligible only after all those eligible rescue or rescue and emergency medical services that are approved have been funded each grant year, and then only to the level of emergency medical services that they are approved to provide by the authority having jurisdiction.
(4)	It satisfies the eligibility criteria established by the Department under subsection (a) of this section.
(c)	For the purpose of this section and Article 88 of this Chapter, "rescue" means the removal of individuals facing external, nonmedical, and nonpatient related peril to areas of relative safety. A "rescue unit" or "rescue squad" means a group of individuals who are not necessarily trained in emergency medical services, fire fighting, or law enforcement, but who expose themselves to an external, nonmedical, and nonpatient related peril to effect the removal of individuals facing the same type of peril to areas of relative safety. The unit or squad must comply with existing State statutes and with eligibility criteria established by the North Carolina Association of Rescue and Emergency Medical Services, Inc."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2005.