REPLICA

Twenty-one states have enacted and approved the Recognition of EMS Personnel Licensure Interstate CompAct (REPLICA). This legislation negatively affects EMS jobs and wages and reduces the control over patient care. REPLICA poses a threat to IAFF affiliates everywhere and compromises quality of care to the communities they serve.

The National Association of State EMS Officials (NASAMSO) authored the legislation in response to the federal government’s request to improve response to federal law enforcement activities and to emergency incidents, such as wildland fires. The federal government aims to ease restrictions to make it easier for EMS personnel to provide services across state lines that involve high-level security response from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and other law enforcement to emergencies.

The IAFF understands the need to make access more convenient, but REPLICA in its current form makes government bigger and more bureaucratic. In addition, current legislation exceeds the scope and extends the legislation to include day-today EMS responses, which could include non-emergency inter- facility work. This legislation would allow private, for-profit, entities and rival organizations to move personnel across state borders and take work away from IAFF affiliates in their jurisdictions and inadvertently create a parity gap in wages for states that enter into the agreement.

Although the IAFF was a stakeholder organization during the creation of this “model” legislative language, our position was not inserted, and our position continues to be ignored. We have continued to state our opposition to the rest of the stakeholders and authors of the legislation.

The EMS Compact facilitates the day-to-day movement of EMS personnel across state boundaries in the performance of their duties. EMS personnel, including EMTs and Paramedics, licensed in a compact member state are granted a Privilege to Practice in the other compact member states. The EMS Compact is a legal agreement between states, enacted by state legislation in over 20 states. A Member State is a state that has passed the Recognition of Emergency Medical Services Personnel Licensure Interstate Compact (REPLICA) legislation.

The EMS Compact has developed sample model legislation our affiliates should be weary of and be found at the link below.