The Assembly voted 74-0 early Wednesday to send to the governor’s desk a bill to require 70,000 emergency medical technicians in California to undergo mandatory criminal background checks and to create a statewide EMT registry.

Though AB 941 was widely supported by the ambulance industry, California firefighters and emergency medical administrators, some opposition to the bill emerged before its passage.

Victor Mow, chairman of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, argued that the EMT bill “significantly weakens existing patient protection safeguards by reassigning the power to investigate and discipline EMT rescuers to their employers,” restricting the power of his local emergency medical services director.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association also opposed provisions to keep private information and documents that employers give to county agencies as part of EMT investigations.