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Oral Health Access Supervision Program- OHASP
Current Legislative News- Updated June 2022
Legislative Update
June 2022
Mark your Calendars:
7/16 Leadership Retreat at Dublin, OH library. 9am – 3:30pm
Legislative Updates since May:
- Redistricting: The Ohio Redistricting Commission fifth map was rejected by the Supreme Court, but the federal court stepped in and set the third map as the one that will be in place for 2022. Second primary will be August 2 for statehouse races.
- Capital Budget – HB 687: Capital budget for fiscal years 2023-2024 passed by House and Senate. Of the $3.5 billion bill, $650,000 will go towards the Dental Laboratory Renovation through Eastern Gateway Community College, and $250,000 for the East Side Dental Clinic though Ohio State.
- $500 Million for Appalachian Ohio Grant – HB 377: HB 377 is a bill that appropriated $422 million in ARPA dollars to local governments, however an amendment was accepted to add $500 million to the bill and create the Appalachian Community Grant Program under the direction of the Department of Development. 32 counties will have the opportunity to apply for these grants before the end of 2024. All grant monies must be spent by 2026.
- SB 131/HB 203: HB 203 and SB 131 were introduced to encourage professionals to move to Ohio by reducing regulation when it came to occupational licensing, but various professional organizations, including ODHA, have expressed concerns that the legislation has the potential to allow unqualified individuals to practice in Ohio. ODHA has worked with Senator Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) on SB 131 to allow a state licensing board to require an out-of-state applicant to have met a national standard to receive a license in Ohio. ODHA testified as an interested party and explained our concerns to the committee.
- Senate Review of Boards and Commissions – OSDB: Timothy Kyger, VP of the Dental Board, testified before the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee a few weeks ago as part of the ongoing occupational licensing review process. The House started this review last year, and the Senate has continued the work and will likely finish reviewing boards in the fall. The bill that has accompanied this whole process is HB 509, which coincidentally had its first hearing in the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee the same day that Dr. Kyger spoke. HB 509 passed out of the House back in March. The Buckeye Institute wants to eliminate the teledentistry permit and lower the fees on both the dentist and dental hygienist license.
Oral Health Ohio:
- Focus Groups – State Oral Health Plan Advisory Committee Chris Harmison and Ann Naber attended Focus group. Many connections could be made in these focus groups for ODHA. OHO plan is being developed for 2023.
Ohio State Dental Board:
- Recent meeting has been postponed, second meeting postponed this year. Both meetings will need to be made up since the board is to have 8 meetings per year.
Ohio Department of Health:
- HPV Survey will be sent to Dentists and Hygienists and should be going out in a couple of weeks.
FEATURED NEWS:
- Dental Summit Meeting- Kelly Reported that ODHA, ODA, EFDA, and Assistants were represented, but OSDB was not in attendance.President ODA discussed how they were not in support of Dental Therapy. He mentioned a Dental Hygiene school closing in Ohio which he could not verify or name. He discussed possibly reducing the faculty ratio to students in the dental hygiene programs and mentioned that there are new innovative ways for training hygienist but did not elaborate. He expressed wanting to help the Assistants get more certified and ODA wanting to open more EFDA programs.
- Beth Tronolone and Ann Naber meeting to discuss Ohio Interstate Compacts.
Respectfully submitted,
Lainey Foster, RDH
ODHA Vice President
Current Legislative News- Updated March 2022
- HB 203/SB 131 Occupational Licensing/Reciprocity: HB 203 has had five hearings in the House State and Local Government Committee. Kelsey has spoken with bill’s sponsor to suggest the national standard language be added to the bill. SB 131 has had two hearings.
- HB 509 Occupational Regulations: The State Dental Board licensure was under review and the Buckeye Institute suggested that the state reduce the licensing fees for dentists and dental hygienists and eliminate the teledentistry permit. We were able to lobby to ensure this was not included in the committee’s final report. That report will eventually be incorporated into this legislation.
- SB 9 Reduce Regulations: This legislation aims to require state agencies to reduce the number of regulatory restrictions by 30 percent by June 30, 2025. If any agency fails to meet this 30% reduction a 2-for-1” policy would be implemented where two regulations must be eliminated for each one created. The bill was passed by the Senate in March 2021 and was just reported by the House Oversight Committee. This primarily impacts state agencies and not licensing boards like the State Dental Board.
- HB 344 Insurer Limitations of Dental Services: ODHA submitted a letter of support on January 31st.
- HB 544 Delay 2022 Primary: This bill would delay the primary until June 7 rather than May 3. It was introduced as a solution to all the redistricting problems because members and candidates didn’t know their district lines and therefore didn’t know where they needed to collect signatures to get on the ballot. This bill hasn’t had any hearings yet. Because the legislative and congressional maps have yet to be finalized, the Senate and House quickly passed a measure at the end of January pushing the filing deadline for Congressional seats to March 4, but Ohio House and Senate candidates still had to get their nominating petitions in by February 2. The legislature said that candidates wouldn’t have to start from scratch gathering signatures if the new district includes part of the county where a signer resides, that signature will still count.
- COVID- 19: SB 218 has received two hearings in the Senate where it received pushback from organizations opposed to any vaccine requirements as well as statewide business groups that contend the measure infringes on the rights of employers. The last hearing was December 7th.
- Teledentistry Proposed Language: The legislation is being spearheaded by ODA and will either be a standalone bill or an amendment to another bill.
Important Dental Legislative News
For more information and access to register:
https://www.ohioresponds.odh.ohio.gov/