Benninghoff: House Passes $25 Million in Pandemic Relief Funding for Emergency Medical Services

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) said Monday that he joined his colleagues in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in passing legislation to make $25 million in grant money available for Emergency Medical Services to offset COVID-19 impacts.

This funding is on top of the $225 million relief plan for health care facilities and frontline workers passed by the General Assembly and signed into law last week.

“Our EMS teams, especially in rural Pennsylvania, have been crucial in responding to this pandemic and remain a necessary part of the arsenal needed to provide emergency services to Pennsylvania communities,” Benninghoff said. “Making this significant amount of funding available is essential to ensuring these critical organizations can survive during these extremely trying times and be positioned to remain sustainable into the future.”

The grant legislation, Senate Bill 739, will allocate a total of $25 million in federal disaster relief funds to be distributed under the Emergency Medical Services COVID-19 Recovery Grant Program. EMS companies will be able to apply for these funds through the Office of the State Fire Commissioner.

After passing the House unanimously, the legislation now heads back to the Senate for concurrence and could reach the governor’s desk later this week.