As a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Emergency Medical Services in the State, I was part of a group that recommended how $31 million should be distributed to the state’s 260 emergency medical (EMS) agencies. The funding, made possible through the biennial budget passed last year, was to be split between more immediate stabilization efforts and longer-term sustainability programs to shore up the fiscal health of our EMS providers.

Over the course of our meetings, the 17-member commission became concerned about the process that Maine EMS, a bureau within the Department of Public Safety, would take to distribute these funds. Our concerns centered on the rulemaking process the agency would undergo and the amount of time that process would take before the funds were distributed.

Under the initial legislation that established the funding, about $12 million of the program’s funds were supposed to be delivered as direct financial assistance to struggling EMS agencies. While the law didn’t call for rules to be established to handle this disbursement, Maine EMS went ahead and created them anyway.

That was concerning for the commission, which made the recommendation to enact legislation to remove the rulemaking process from the equation completely. We wanted to ensure those funds flowed as fast as possible to the state’s EMS agencies without a lot of red tape.

The remaining $19 million was to be used to fund Maine’s EMS training centers ($1 million), and sustainability grants that met the long-term needs of these agencies ($17.1 million). The rest, about $850,000, was to go toward four temporary positions at Maine EMS to administer the program. The agency was tasked under this part of the program to adopt rules to do so.

Unfortunately, the recent news that infighting within Maine EMS has prevented the disbursement of these funds to our EMS providers underscores the Commission’s concerns. And now, the new rules that were released by the agency in August indicate the funds will be spent in a completely different way than what was originally proposed in the legislation.

In essence, we were right on several fronts. First, these funds should have already been delivered. Second, these new rules were developed amid bureaucratic infighting without any legislative or public input. While public hearings were held earlier this month after the proposed rules were released, I don’t think the public even knew about it.

That’s not the way this is supposed to work; and it is appalling.

When we passed L.D. 1859 in the 130th Legislature, it initially established the Maine Emergency Medical Services Community Grant Program with $200,000 in startup funding. Routine technical rules were required to be developed by Maine EMS to administer it. Yet during the course of the Commission’s meetings, we were alarmed to learn the agency failed to do so.

At multiple meetings, many commission members including myself expressed our frustration that this crucial program and its associated funding were not available to EMS entities despite its enactment by the Legislature more than two years ago. It also gave us doubts about whether Maine EMS and the Maine EMS Board itself had the ability to perform their duties under Maine law. This failure certainly put both bodies in a bad light.

When the commission ended and we issued our report in January, we fully expected Maine EMS and its board would right the ship. Fast forward to today and it appears they have failed yet again.

According to media reports, 76 agencies missed out on funding entirely due to a burdensome grant process. And $19 million has sat idle for another year due to inaction caused by the disagreement about what to do with the remaining funds. Some members want all of it disbursed to agencies while others want to invest $9 million in the training centers.

That is perhaps the most puzzling of all. Part A, section A-29 of the biennial budget explicitly called for $1 million to be spent on training. That’s it.

And since our commission ended, we have also learned that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to layer on a new set of occupational work rules for emergency responders. That not only jeopardizes many volunteer departments but also undoubtedly requires additional investment in equipment and training.

But until those rules are adopted, Maine EMS needs to get its own inept bureaucracy out of the way and do its job now. Those in need of EMS services are depending upon it.