The MIEMSS Office of Government Affairs (OGA) serves as the agency’s primary liaison to the executive and legislative branches of State government. Through the cultivation of collaborative partnerships with relevant stakeholders, the OGA is dedicated to developing and advancing effective statutory and regulatory policies in support of all components of the statewide EMS system, the emergency care system, and Maryland’s healthcare system as a whole.

2025 Legislative Report
The 2025 legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly convened on January 8, 2025, and adjourned on April 7, 2025. During this time, the House and Senate considered hundreds of bills, including those impacting Maryland EMS. Here are four key EMS-related bills that passed during the session:

HB 1131 – Public Health – Buprenorphine – Training Grant Program and Workgroup
This legislation (1) establishes a Buprenorphine Training Grant Program (Program) to assist EMS Operational Programs with offsetting the cost of training paramedics to administer buprenorphine, (2) includes this Program as an authorized use of funding from the Opioid Restitution Fund, and (3) requires the Maryland Office of Opioid Response to convene a workgroup to study access to buprenorphine in the State.

HB 1131 includes a provision that requires the Governor to include in the annual budget bill an appropriation of at least $50,000 from the Opioid Restitution Fund for the Program. Based on projected training costs and the amount of this annual appropriation, the number of paramedics to be trained to induce buprenorphine therapy could be achieved in four years. This, of course, assumes there is interest among EMS Operational Programs in conducting and arranging the education and among paramedics in receiving it. MIEMSS estimates that it would cost approximately $500 to train each paramedic, or $200,000.

HB 246 / SB 205 – Human Services – Adult Protective Services
This legislation specifies that certain provisions of law relating to confidentiality do not prohibit the disclosure of certain information by state or local government employees or the United States if the officer or employee is responsible for conducting an adult protective services (APS) investigation. It also expands the definition of “health practitioner” for the purposes of mandatory APS reporting, to include cardiac rescue technicians, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics. Additionally, the bill adds calls to the statewide reporting hotline administered by the Department of Human Services as a reporting method. While the bill generally goes into effect on October 1, 2025, the mandatory reporting requirement for EMS clinicians will not go 69 into effect until July 1, 2026, which will provide the necessary time for MIEMSS to revise its clinical protocols to ensure the alignment of the relevant statute and associated regulations

HB 1380 / SB 676
This legislation requires the Maryland Department of Health, in coordination with MIEMSS, to adopt regulations establishing minimum perinatal care standards for hospitals that meet or exceed the Maryland Perinatal System Standards for each hospital that provides obstetrical services, as well as for freestanding birthing centers. This legislation requires compliance with these standards as a condition of licensure.

SB 369 / HB 593
This legislation requires each branch of a county library system or the Enoch Pratt Free Library to place an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in a prominent area, accessible to employees and library users, and comply with the requirements of the Maryland Public Access AED Program. By December 1, 2026, MIEMSS must report to the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the Environment and the House Ways and Means Committee on the libraries that registered AEDs in accordance with regulations adopted under §23- 102.2 of the Education Article.