It shall be unlawful for any person, either as owner, agent, employee, or otherwise, to operate, conduct, advertise, or otherwise be engaged in the business of providing ambulance services, or the transportation of patients within the County by means of an ambulance, or air ambulance, or operate an ambulance upon any public road, or provide any medical services associated therewith, without first having obtained the current applicable licenses or certificates as hereinafter provided.
(a) 
Ambulance Service Provider License: Every ambulance company located in the County and/or authorized to operate in a service area pursuant to section 6-07-3000 of this Chapter shall obtain an ambulance service provider license to operate within the County in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, unless otherwise provided.
(b) 
Ambulance Certificates: Every ambulance or air ambulance shall have a current inspection certificate as issued by the California Highway Patrol or applicable air carrier operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration.
(c) 
Driver's License: Every driver operating an ambulance shall hold a currently valid California State Ambulance Driver's License. Persons operating an ambulance in the line of duty as salaried, regular, full-time police officers, deputy sheriffs, or members of a fire department of a public agency are not subject to this requirement.
(d) 
Attendant: Every attendant accompanying an ambulance shall be at least eighteen (18) years of age and currently certified or authorized as an EMT-I, EMT-II, Paramedic, or, when determined by an attending physician to be necessary in the case of an inter-facility transfer, by a physician, registered nurse, or MICN.
(Added by Ord. No. 3390, effective 8-20-09)
The provisions of this Article shall not apply to the following:
(a) 
Any ambulance owned or operated by the United States, or the State of California, and the personnel operating such ambulance.
(b) 
Any ambulance and personnel operating such ambulance which is only temporarily within the County at the request of a hospital or physician for the purpose of providing specialized care for transport of a patient to a facility which will provide specialized medical services to the patient, and is owned by an ambulance company located outside the County.
(c) 
Any ambulance and personnel operating such ambulance rendering assistance to patients during any "state of war emergency," "state of emergency," or "local emergency," as those terms are defined in the Government Code, or as otherwise requested by the Health Director, Health Officer, or public safety agency for a mutual aid response.
(d) 
Any ambulance company located outside of the County and authorized to operate in a service area within the County, to the extent the ambulance company is exempted from all or any part of the provisions of this Chapter pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding with the local EMS Agency reviewed and approved by the Board of Supervisors.
(e) 
Any ambulance company based outside the County when one of the following applies:
(1) 
A patient is being transported to a residence or facility within the County from a residence or facility outside the County; or
(2) 
A patient is being transported through the County to a destination outside the County; or
(3) 
A patient was transported into the County by the same ambulance company and is being transported back to the county of origin.
(f) 
Any ambulance owned and operated by a municipal corporation, city, or special district, if specifically exempted by resolution of the Board of Supervisors upon such conditions as the Board may find to be appropriate.
(Added by Ord. No. 3390, effective 8-20-09; amended by Ord. No. 3490, effective 2-25-16)