* § 3005-b. Emergency medical technician five year re-certification demonstration program. 1. There is hereby created within the department a demonstration program (referred to in this section as the "program") to allow emergency medical technicians and advanced emergency medical technicians who have been in continuous practice and who have demonstrated competence in applicable behavioral and performance objectives, to be re-certified for a five year period. No person shall be re-certified under the program unless he or she has completed at least one hundred thirty hours of instruction in emergency medical services as approved by the commissioner including but not limited to pediatrics, geriatrics, environmental emergencies, legal issues, emergency vehicle operations course and medical emergencies. Renewals of certification under the program shall be deemed equivalent to renewals under subdivision two of section three thousand two of this article.

1. 2. The program shall be limited to persons who are employed by the New York city fire department or who are in practice in the following counties: Delaware, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Nassau, Otsego, Schoharie or Suffolk. The commissioner may limit the number of participants in the program, except that such limit shall be no less than four thousand participants.
2. 3. Within a year after implementing the program and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall report to the governor and the legislature on the impact of the program on the quality of patient care and the effectiveness of the program in retaining and recruiting certified emergency medical technicians and advanced emergency medical technicians.
3. 4. The commissioner, in consultation with the state emergency medical services council, shall make regulations necessary to implement this section. * NB Repealed July 1, 2018