BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1202 (Leno) - Dental hygienists.
Amended: May 8, 2012 Policy Vote: BP&ED 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jennifer Douglas
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1202 would revise provisions governing the
licensure and regulation of registered dental hygienists by the
Dental Hygiene Committee of California (DHCC) and increase
regulatory fee ceilings.
Fiscal Impact:
Unknown, likely significant costs to the State Dental
Hygiene Fund for consultants and an advisory committee.
Minor costs, one time to the State Dental Hygiene Fund to
adopt continued competency regulations.
Cost of new program functions offset by new fees to the State
Dental Hygiene Fund.
Background: Existing law, the Dental Practice Act, provides for
the licensure and regulation of registered dental hygienists,
registered dental hygienists in alternative practice, and
registered dental hygienists in extended functions by the Dental
Hygiene Committee of California within the Dental Board of
California.
The Dental Hygiene Fund has a projected balance of $410,000 for
2013-14. The fund is projected to have a deficit of $167,000 by
2016-17 absent program reductions or increased fee revenue.
Proposed Law: Changes in this bill regarding the licensure and
regulation of registered dental hygienists by the DHCC include
the following:
- Authorizes the DHCC to additionally employ consultants and
authorizes the DHCC to establish an advisory committee to
provide information about the state clinical examination.
- Authorizes the DHCC to issue a special permit to a registered
dental hygienist (RDH) licensed in another state authorizing
him or her to teach in a dental hygiene program in California
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without holding a California license.
- Authorizes a registered dental hygienist in alternative
practice (RDHAP) to operate a mobile dental hygiene clinic, to
register his or her place of practice with the DHCC and to
apply for approval of the DHCC to have an additional place of
practice.
- Authorizes the DHCC to seek an injunction against a violation
by a RDHAP of the requirement to obtain a prescription prior
to rendering services and specifies that providing services
without a written prescription on the part of a RDHAP shall
constitute unprofessional practice and cause revocation or
suspension of the license.
- Authorizes the DHCC to adopt by regulation a measure of
continued competency as a condition of license renewal.
- Requires a dental hygiene educational program to register an
extramural ("offsite") dental facility with the DHCC as
specified.
This bill also increases the maximum fee amounts for various
fees and establishes new fees.
Related Legislation: SB 853 (Perata) Chapter 31/2008 created the
Dental Hygiene Committee of California as a separate body within
the Dental Board of California to oversee the licensure and
regulation of dental hygienist in California.
SB 1575 (Business, Professions and Economic Development
Committee) is the Committee's annual omnibus bill pertaining to
the health-related regulatory Boards of the Department of
Consumer Affairs, including registered dental hygienist law.
This bill is currently on Senate Third Reading.
Staff Comments: Existing law authorizes the DHCC to employ
employees and examiners. This bill would also allow the DHCC to
employ consultants to aid in the operations of the DHCC.
Preliminary information indicates that these consultant
positions would be used to review enforcement cases on an as
needed bases. However, there is no clear definition of such
duties in the bill.
This bill also authorizes the DHCC to establish an advisory
committee to provide information about the clinical examination.
Preliminary information indicates that the advisory committee
would be utilized to continue the development of the Registered
Dental Hygiene Clinical Examinations and to calibrate examiners
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in preparation of evaluating a candidate's patient during exams
and may also be utilized to review a dental hygiene school's
curriculum. As noted above regarding consultants these duties
are not clearly defined in the bill.
Existing law allows the DHCC to obtain an injunction against a
registered dental hygienist in alternative practice (RDHAP) who
violates the requirement to obtain a prescription from a dentist
prior to rendering hygiene services. The DHCC does not
currently have any injunctions against a RDHAP for failing to
obtain a prescription. Existing law also specifies that
providing services without a written prescription on the part of
a RDHAP shall constitute unprofessional conduct, under this bill
the DHCC could revoke or suspend a RDHAP's license.
This bill also authorizes the DHCC to adopt regulations in
regard to continued competency as a condition of license
renewal. The DHCC may use, as guidance for these regulations,
continuing education regulations from another healthcare board
within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Developing
regulations in this manner would likely result in minor costs.
The current methods of generating revenue cannot sustain the
DHCC's fund solvency without additional revenue. This bill
would increase the fee ceiling of selected fees and provide
authorization to establish new fee categories which would allow
the DHCC to increase revenue in the future to maintain its fund
solvency and to afford the cost of program functions. The new
fee category ceilings proposed in this bill would provide a
method for the DHCC to recoup the cost of the new program
functions such as the special permit for out of state registered
dental hygienists, mobile dental hygiene units, an additional
office permit for hygienists in alternative practices, and
extramural dental facility registration.
Proposed Author Amendments: The proposed amendments would strike
the authority granted in the bill to the DHCC to hire
consultants and clarify the activities of the advisory
committee.