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Committee introduces strike‑below bill after extensive Dental Practice Act sunset hearing
Summary
After a lengthy hearing with providers and professional groups, the Senate Health & Human Services Committee voted to introduce a strike‑below draft implementing many recommendations from DORA and the Colorado Dental Association; the bill was moved as the committee’s introduction and technical corrections were authorized.
The Senate Health & Human Services Committee advanced a draft bill to implement recommendations from the sunset review of the Colorado Dental Practice Act after hours of testimony from dentists, hygienists, educators and advocacy groups.
Ginny Brown, deputy executive director at the Department of Regulatory Agencies, presented the sunset report and the Department’s recommended changes. The report recommended continuing the Dental Practice Act for nine years and proposed numerous amendments — from authorizing dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia without supervision and expanding limited prescriptive authority, to creating a pathway for internationally trained dentists and changing requirements for interim therapeutic restorations (ITR). Brown said the report was published Oct. 15 and the draft bill before the committee reflected DORA’s recommendations.
Witness testimony included representatives of the Colorado Dental Association (CDA), Colorado Dental Hygienists Association (CODHA), dental educators and specialty societies. Common themes from CDA and CODHA testimony included support for expanding scope where education exists, creating rules-based flexibility for prescribing and clinical requirements, preserving Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) standards for education, and clarifying supervision and disciplinary provisions. Dental hygienists urged expansion of limited prescriptive authority to include nonprescription analgesics and antibiotics in community settings and removal of certain geographic limits on supervising dentists for ITR provided via telehealth.
Several dental professional witnesses urged the committee to adopt CDA’s additional recommendations that were not in DORA’s report, including streamlined statutory exemptions, explicit grounds for discipline regarding records release and PDMP integration, and changes to the Peer Assistance Program fee structure for dentists.
During the proceedings, the committee handled a lengthy witness list (28 signups) and reduced individual testimony times to two minutes because of the volume. After the witness phase the committee’s legislative staff advised members they could move to introduce a strike‑below draft as the bill. Senator Michael St. Germain moved to introduce the strike‑below as the bill; members raised no objection and the motion passed. Committee staff were authorized to make technical corrections before introduction.
The draft introduced reflects a mix of DORA recommendations and stakeholder‑negotiated provisions. Committee members did not record a roll‑call vote on final passage to introduce the bill; introduction passed by unanimous consent or lack of objection. The bill will proceed for formal introduction and further committee consideration after technical corrections are made.
