“New York City continually prioritizes other spending initiatives and relegates public safety to the back seat, while EMS members are bloodied, attacked and mugged in countless dangerous situations,”
Oren Barzilay, President of Local 2507
PIX 11
by: Spencer Gustafson | Oct 22, 2025
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that was inspired by the murder of a 24-year veteran of the FDNY EMS.
The Emergency Response Staffing Bill (S. 6698/A. 7356), was introduced to change staffing requirements for employees performing emergency medical services in cities with a population over 1 million people. In New York currently, New York City is the only one to meet that qualification.
Gov. Hochul cited financial constraints as the main reason for vetoing the bill. “New York City would have to hire an additional 290 emergency medical technicians at a cost of $25 million annually to meet these standards,” Gov. Hochul said.
The “fiscal issue” implementing more staff in ambulances when going out on emergency response calls was enough, in the governor’s eyes, to shoot down the bill.
In 2022, EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling was killed while on duty in Queens after being stabbed with a kitchen knife just one block from her stationhouse. Russo-Elling was a first responder on Sept. 11, according to the FDNY. Her killer was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison earlier this year.
Russo-Elling was working alone on the day she was killed, which is what inspired the bill’s introduction by lawmakers in March. The bill would have added another qualified medical first responder to each ambulance, such as an EMT or paramedic.
“Amending the law would ensure that supervisors working in EMS vehicles would work in teams just as EMTs and paramedics do,” Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, the union representing New York City’s EMTs and paramedics, said.