The Maryland Senate rejected a bill Tuesday that would have delayed the purchase of new medevac helicopters until the state studied and compared the price of buying the new equipment.
Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee approved spending $52.5 million from the state capital budget to buy three new medical evacuation helicopters.
Proponents of the Senate bill said lawmakers owed it to Maryland taxpayers to study the state’s helicopter emergency medical services before approving a procurement that could top $200 million.
They said the state’s dismal financial state — coupled with the assurances by the state police that the current fleet of emergency helicopters are safe to operate — made a study more attractive.
“I think it’s a good order for us as legislators … to make sure that we have the policy decision right before we proceed on such a huge expenditure,” said Sen. Robert Garagiola, D-Germantown.
Opponents of the bill said the state’s medevac program has been studied many times and the need to replace aging equipment was well documented. They added that any delay could be costly.
The Maryland State Police Aviation Command operates 11 helicopters, eight of which are about 20 years old and lack many state-of-the-art safety features, according to a legislative report.
State police requested new safety equipment, including night vision equipment and a flight simulator. Police also want funding to hire co-pilots, saying an additional pilot will increase safety on each flight.
A September medevac helicopter crash in Prince George’s County killed four people. Before the crash, a legislative audit raised questions about the medevac program’s response time and maintenance record.
Some lawmakers have called for privatizing certain aspects of the medevac’s operations to cut costs and improve service.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
