{"id":12362,"date":"2025-10-22T18:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T18:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/12362\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T18:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T18:52:13","slug":"how-it-affects-nyc-first-responders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/12362\/","title":{"rendered":"How it affects NYC first responders"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (PIX11) \u2014 Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that was inspired by the murder of a 24-year veteran<\/a> of the FDNY EMS.<\/p>\n

The Emergency Response Staffing Bill (S. 6698<\/a>\/A. 7356<\/a>), was introduced to change staffing requirements for employees performing emergency medical services in cities with a population over 1 million people. In New York currently, New York City is the only one to meet that qualification.<\/p>\n

More Local News <\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul cited financial constraints as the main reason for vetoing the bill. \u201cNew York City would have to hire an additional 290 emergency medical technicians at a cost of $25 million annually to meet these standards,\u201d Gov. Hochul said.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfiscal issue\u201d implementing more staff in ambulances when going out on emergency response calls was enough, in the governor\u2019s eyes, to shoot down the bill.<\/p>\n

In 2022, EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling<\/a> was killed while on duty in Queens after being stabbed with a kitchen knife just one block from her stationhouse. Russo-Elling was a first responder on Sept. 11, according to the FDNY. Her killer was convicted and sentenced<\/a> to 25 years to life in prison earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Russo-Elling was working alone<\/a> on the day she was killed, which is what inspired the bill\u2019s introduction by lawmakers in March. The bill would have added another qualified medical first responder to each ambulance, such as an EMT or paramedic.<\/p>\n

More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAmending the law would ensure that supervisors working in EMS vehicles would work in teams just as EMTs and paramedics do,\u201d Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, the union representing New York City\u2019s EMTs and paramedics, said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson of FDNY EMS Local 2507 said the $25 million out of the FDNY\u2019s $2.6 million budget should not have been the difference in striking down the bill, saying it is vital \u201cfor not only patient care, but importantly for the safety and security of the city\u2019s medical first responders that face hazardous conditions every day in the line of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it currently stands, public health law requirements for minimum staffing is limited to one responder.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City continually prioritizes other spending initiatives and relegates public safety to the back seat, while EMS members are bloodied, attacked and mugged in countless dangerous situations,\u201d Barzilay said.<\/p>\n

Spencer Gustafson is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered New York state and city news since 2023. See more of his work here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (PIX11) \u2014 Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that was inspired by the murder of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9807,9806,9805,426,9808,9,56,63,65,64,9809],"class_list":{"0":"post-12362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-emergency-medical-services","9":"tag-emergency-medical-technicians","10":"tag-fdny-ems","11":"tag-kathy-hochul","12":"tag-medical-first-responder","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-the-bill"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}