(a) effective January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven the minimum staffing standard for a registered ambulance service shall be a certified first responder with the patient;
(b) effective January first, two thousand, the minimum staffing standard for a voluntary ambulance service shall be an emergency medical technician with the patient;
(c) the minimum staffing standard for all other ambulance services shall be an emergency medical technician with the patient; and
(d) the minimum staffing standard for an advanced life support first response service shall be an advanced emergency medical technician with the patient. Circumstances permitting other than advanced life support care by an advanced life support first response service may be established by rule by the state council, subject to the approval of the commissioner. 2. Any service granted an exemption by the regional council pursuant to subdivision five-a of section three thousand three of this article shall be subject to the standards and terms of the exemption. 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the effective date of the standards established by this section shall be delayed by one year for each fiscal year, prior to January first, two thousand, in which the amounts appropriated are less than that which would have been expended pursuant to the provisions of section ninety-seven-q of the state finance law.