Committee backs proposed 2025 omnibus bill items to correct statutes, expand student scope and collect RDHAP location data

The Legislation & Regulatory Committee voted to recommend that the full Dental Hygiene Board of California support submission of multiple proposed statutory amendments for possible inclusion in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development omnibus bill (identified in materials as SB 861).

Executive Officer Anthony Lum described three categories of proposed statutory changes the board has pursued: (1) non-substantive nomenclature fixes requested by stakeholders (including the California Dental Hygienists' Association) to reflect the dentalhygiene-specific board; (2) a proposed change to Business and Professions Code section 1915.1 to allow dental hygiene students to assist and work at sponsored events (an access-to-care measure modeled on prior dental-student authority); and (3) a proposal to require RDHAPs to report their working location at renewal so the board can better track geographic distribution of licensees. Staff also proposed splitting a combined application/initial license fee into two transparent line items (application fee $100; initial license fee $150), with no change to the total charged applicants.

The committee considered whether all requested statutory items could be accommodated by the omnibus amendment process; Lum said Senate staff indicated some items might be added by amendment but not necessarily every proposed section. The committee also discussed a narrowly focused supervision-ratio clarification for dental hygiene students: new language inserted into proposed law would require a minimum 1 clinical supervising faculty member to 5 dental hygiene students for clinical procedures authorized in Business & Professions Code sections covering local anesthesia, curettage and scaling/root planing. That amended language was presented, the mover accepted an amendment to strike a particular section (1961.5) from her motion, and the committee approved the motion as amended.

Julie Elginer moved that the committee approve the proposed statutory language and recommend to the full board that all or part of the language be pursued as an omnibus-bill amendment. She later offered an amendment to remove one item from the package; Sridevi Panala seconded the amended motion. The roll call recorded Ayes from Lolly Agarwal, Julie Elginer, Sonia Pat Hansen, Michael Long and Sridevi Panala; the motion passed.

Committee members and public commenters discussed implementation details. McLaren from the California Dental Hygienists' Association asked whether certain changes could be inserted without legislative approval; staff clarified the omnibus process and indicated staff would pursue authorship or insertion via the Senate BNP process but that some statutory changes may need stand-alone bills if not accepted. Board staff said language and implementation details would be refined as needed before any legislative insertion and that the board would continue pursuing statutory changes in subsequent sessions if not adopted this cycle.

The committee's recommendation is an instruction to staff to pursue inclusion in the omnibus amendment process and to return to the full board and future meetings with updates.