(Radio Iowa) – Iowa voters could establish a new local property levy to provide funding for Emergency Medical Services under a provision included a bill that cleared the legislature late Wednesday night. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, says ambulance services have been lobbying for this for 50 years.

“This piece of policy legislation in this bill is truly a generational change,” Kaufmann says, “to be able to give our counties or our cities or our districts the ability to finally levy for and raise the funds to fully fund our ambulance services.” Kaufmann says calling for an ambulance in rural Iowa often depends upon a response from a volunteer department running on donations from pancake breakfasts and other fundraisers.