No owner of a publicly or privately owned ambulance shall permit the operation of the ambulance in emergency service unless the attendant on duty therein, or, if there is no attendant on duty therein, the operator, possesses evidence of that specialized training as is reasonably necessary to ensure that the attendant or operator is competent to care for sick or injured persons who may be transported by the ambulance, as set forth in the emergency medical training and educational standards for ambulance personnel established by the authority pursuant to this article. This section shall not be applicable in any state of emergency declared pursuant to the California Emergencies Services Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code), when it is necessary to fully utilize all available ambulances in an area and it is not possible to have the ambulance operated or attended by persons with the qualifications required by this section.

(Added by Stats. 1983, Ch. 1246, Sec. 20.)