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Committee sets positions on several bills, including support for fluoride coverage and opposition to infection-control timing change
Summary
The Dental Hygiene Board of CaliforniaLegislation & Regulatory Committee reviewed a set of bills and recommended positions to the full board: watch on several health-benefit benchmark and access bills, support for AB 350 (fluoride coverage expansion), and oppose AB 873 (changes to infection-control timing for unlicensed dental assistants).
At its meeting the committee reviewed multiple bills of interest and voted to recommend positions for the full board to adopt later. The committeemotion, made by Julie Elginer and seconded by Sonia Pat Hansen, recorded the following recommended positions:
- AB 224 (Bonta): Watch. Expresses legislative intent to review California's essential health benefits benchmark plan and establish a new benchmark for 2027. Staff recommended watch since the bill is early in the process.
- AB 341 (Arambula): Watch. Would establish an oral-health technical assistance center to improve dental care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; staff recommended watch and committee discussed adding RDHAPs to the programscope to expand access for home- and community-based care.
- AB 350 (Banta): Support. Requires coverage for fluoride varnish application in primary-care settings for children through age 21; staff recommended support to expand preventive care access.
- AB 371 (Paney): Watch. Would add certain access and timeliness requirements for dental coverage; staff recommended watch.
- AB 489 (Carrillo, artificial intelligence): Watch. Prohibits AI programs from implying they are licensed healing-art practitioners; staff recommended watch with attention to definitions of "person" versus "entity." The committee noted speaker offices requested careful language so consumers can distinguish AI from licensed clinicians.
- AB 873 (Alanis): Oppose. The bill, as circulated in committee materials, would change when unlicensed dental assistants must complete the boardrequired 8-hour infection-control course (allowing a grace period after hire). After extensive public comment from dental hygienists and associations expressing consumer-protection concerns, the committee recommended opposition to the version in circulation.
- AB 966 (Carrillo): Watch. Concerning foreign dental-school approvals; staff recommended watch.
- SB 62: Watch. Another bill concerning essential health benefits; staff recommended watch.
- SB 351: Watch. Staff recommended watch for this private-equity and health-care governance bill that would limit private-equity interference with clinical decision-making.
The committee discussed each bill with staff and public commenters. On AB 341 (the disabilities technical-assistance center), several RDHAP commenters recommended explicitly including RDHAPs and hygiene programs as eligible partners so community-based and home-based desensitization and care would not be displaced; the committee asked staff to consider seeking language to include RDHAPs where appropriate. On AB 873 (infection-control timing), numerous hygienists and public commenters argued that unlicensed personnel should receive full infection-control training before handling potentially infectious materials; that concern drove the committee's recommended opposed position.
The board staff noted that positions reflect the bill versions presented and that language can change; staff will update the board as bills are amended and will bring final position letters to the full board for adoption.
