Regulation of private ambulance services

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the governing authority of each municipality within the state of Louisiana shall have the power to adopt ordinances for the regulation of ambulance services operated by private individuals or companies within the corporate limits of said municipality. B. In the parishes of Caddo and Bossier, this power shall include but not be limited to the power to franchise, exclusively or otherwise, emergency ambulance operations within said municipalities. In exercising the power authorized in this Subsection, municipalities are hereby specifically authorized to take action that would, absent this explicit grant or authority, violate the antitrust laws of the United States and/or this state as they may now or hereafter be written. Provided, however, that in event an exclusive franchise is issued, the process employed in granting said exclusive franchise shall provide that it shall be awarded by the municipal governing authority to the entity submitting the best bid in response to a publicly advertised request for bids and further provide that no exclusive franchise shall be granted for period of time to exceed five years. Exclusive franchises shall be issued only for emergency ambulance services and shall be issued only to ambulance service companies who have agreed in writing to provide service to all eligible medicare and medicaid recipients.