1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to emergency medical services; modifying 
  1.3             license plate provisions for volunteer ambulance 
  1.4             attendants; permitting certain ambulance services to 
  1.5             make claims against tax refunds; regulating use of 
  1.6             police communication equipment; amending Minnesota 
  1.7             Statutes 2002, sections 168.12, subdivision 2e; 
  1.8             270A.03, subdivision 2; 299C.37, subdivision 1. 
  1.9   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.10     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 168.12, 
  1.11  subdivision 2e, is amended to read: 
  1.12     Subd. 2e.  [VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE ATTENDANTS; SPECIAL 
  1.13  PLATES.] (a) The registrar shall issue special license plates to 
  1.14  an applicant who is a volunteer ambulance attendant as defined 
  1.15  in section 144E.001, subdivision 15, and who owns or jointly 
  1.16  owns a motor vehicle taxed as a passenger automobile.  The 
  1.17  registrar shall issue the special plates on payment of the 
  1.18  registration tax required by law for the vehicle, compliance 
  1.19  with all other applicable laws relating to registration and 
  1.20  licensing of motor vehicles and drivers, and payment of an 
  1.21  additional fee of $10.  The registrar shall not issue more than 
  1.22  one set two sets of these plates to each qualified applicant. 
  1.23     (b) A person may use special plates issued under this 
  1.24  subdivision only during the period that the person is a 
  1.25  volunteer ambulance attendant.  When the person to whom the 
  1.26  special plates were issued ceases to be a volunteer ambulance 
  1.27  attendant, or the person shall return each set of special plates 
  2.1   issued to that person.  When ownership of the a vehicle is 
  2.2   transferred, the person shall remove the special plates from the 
  2.3   that vehicle and return them to the registrar.  On return of the 
  2.4   each set of plates, the owner of the vehicle, or new owner in 
  2.5   case of a transferred vehicle, is entitled to receive regular 
  2.6   license plates for the vehicle without cost for the rest of the 
  2.7   registration period for which the set of special plates were 
  2.8   issued.  Special plates issued under this subdivision may be 
  2.9   transferred to another vehicle owned by the volunteer ambulance 
  2.10  attendant on payment of a fee of $5. 
  2.11     (c) The fees specified in this subdivision must be paid 
  2.12  into the state treasury and deposited in the highway user tax 
  2.13  distribution fund.  
  2.14     (d) The commissioner may adopt rules governing the design, 
  2.15  issuance, and sale of the special plates authorized by this 
  2.16  subdivision. 
  2.17     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 270A.03, 
  2.18  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  2.19     Subd. 2.  [CLAIMANT AGENCY.] "Claimant agency" means any 
  2.20  state agency, as defined by section 14.02, subdivision 2, the 
  2.21  regents of the University of Minnesota, any district court of 
  2.22  the state, any county, any statutory or home rule charter city 
  2.23  presenting a claim for a municipal hospital or a public library 
  2.24  or a municipal an ambulance service licensed under chapter 144E, 
  2.25  a hospital district, a private nonprofit hospital that leases 
  2.26  its building from the county in which it is located, any public 
  2.27  agency responsible for child support enforcement, any public 
  2.28  agency responsible for the collection of court-ordered 
  2.29  restitution, and any public agency established by general or 
  2.30  special law that is responsible for the administration of a 
  2.31  low-income housing program. 
  2.32     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 299C.37, 
  2.33  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  2.34     Subdivision 1.  [USE REGULATED.] (a) No person other than 
  2.35  peace officers within the state, the members of the state 
  2.36  patrol, ambulance service personnel as defined in section 
  3.1   144E.001, subdivision 3a, and persons who hold an amateur radio 
  3.2   license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, shall 
  3.3   equip any motor vehicle with any radio equipment or combination 
  3.4   of equipment, capable of receiving any radio signal, message, or 
  3.5   information from any police emergency frequency, or install, 
  3.6   use, or possess the equipment in a motor vehicle without 
  3.7   permission from the superintendent of the bureau upon a form 
  3.8   prescribed by the superintendent.  An amateur radio license 
  3.9   holder is not entitled to exercise the privilege granted by this 
  3.10  paragraph if the license holder has been convicted in this state 
  3.11  or elsewhere of a crime of violence, as defined in section 
  3.12  624.712, subdivision 5, unless ten years have elapsed since the 
  3.13  person has been restored to civil rights or the sentence has 
  3.14  expired, whichever occurs first, and during that time the person 
  3.15  has not been convicted of any other crime of violence.  For 
  3.16  purposes of this section, "crime of violence" includes a crime 
  3.17  in another state or jurisdiction that would have been a crime of 
  3.18  violence if it had been committed in this state.  Radio 
  3.19  equipment installed, used, or possessed as permitted by this 
  3.20  paragraph must be under the direct control of the license holder 
  3.21  whenever it is used. 
  3.22     (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c), any person who is 
  3.23  convicted of a violation of this subdivision shall, upon 
  3.24  conviction for the first offense, be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
  3.25  and for the second and subsequent offenses shall be guilty of a 
  3.26  gross misdemeanor. 
  3.27     (c) An amateur radio license holder who exercises the 
  3.28  privilege granted by paragraph (a) shall carry the amateur radio 
  3.29  license in the motor vehicle at all times and shall present the 
  3.30  license to a peace officer on request.  A violation of this 
  3.31  paragraph is a petty misdemeanor.  A second or subsequent 
  3.32  violation is a misdemeanor.