Bill Text: HI SB343 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Dental Hygienists; School-based Dental Sealant Program ($)
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-04-26 - Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-26-13 4:30PM in conference room 229. [SB343 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2013-SB343-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 452
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 343
S.D. 1
Honorable Donna Mercado Kim
President of the Senate
Twenty-Seventh State Legislature
Regular Session of 2013
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committees on Health and Education and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 343 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DENTAL HEALTH,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Require the Director of Health to participate in the national oral health surveillance system, a national database managed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors;
(2) Permit dental hygienists to apply preventative sealants in a school-based dental sealant program, in consultation with a licensed dentist or a federally qualified health care facility;
(3) Require the department of health to establish and administer a school-based dental sealant program in a high-need demonstration school;
(4) Require the Department of Health to report to the Legislature about the Department's efforts to prioritize prevention of tooth decay amongst the State's children; and
(5) Appropriate funds to establish and administer a school-based dental sealant program in a high-need demonstration school, including plans to implement the program on a statewide level.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Kokua Kalihi Valley Community Health Center, American Dental Hygienists Association, and seven individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Dental Association and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Board of Dental Examiners, and three individuals.
Your Committees find that the application of preventative sealants to children's teeth is an effective way to prevent tooth decay. In a recent report by the Pew Center on the States, "Falling Short: Most States Lag on Dental Sealants," Hawaii was one of five states to receive an "F" rating and received only one out of a possible eleven points. Your Committees further find that Hawaii is one of eight states with the most restrictions on dental hygienists, the primary practitioners who apply dental sealants in school-based programs.
Your Committees note that there was concern expressed at the hearing that dental hygienists applying dental sealants should have their work overseen by a licensed dentist. To that end, your Committees find that dental hygienists can safely apply dental sealants when their work is done in consultation with a licensed dentist. Because it is imperative that steps be taken to immediately improve the dental health of Hawaii's children, your Committees find it necessary to permit dental hygienists to apply dental sealants at all federally qualified health centers as well.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Requiring dental hygienists to apply preventative sealants in consultation with a licensed dentist;
(2) Permitting dental hygienists to apply preventative sealants in federally qualified health centers;
(3) Changing the effective date to January 1, 2054, to encourage further discussion; provided that the measure shall be repealed on January 1, 2057; and
(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Education and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 343, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 343, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Education and Commerce and Consumer Protection,
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____________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair |
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____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair |
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____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair |
