Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1229 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the licensure of dental hygienists without requiring passage of the state examination if the person is licensed to practice dental hygiene in another state.

The Board of Dental Examiners (Board), Hawaii Dental Hygienists' Association, and numerous professionals in the dental profession testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that there is a serious shortage of experienced dental hygienists in the State, which has affected consumers' access to dental hygiene services in a State with the highest rate of child tooth decay in the nation. On the island of Hawaii alone, patients must wait three to six months for a dental cleaning appointment. The University of Hawaii dental hygienist program, which graduates fewer than twenty dental hygienists a year, cannot fill this professional shortage.

Your Committee further finds that a major deterrent to the entry of qualified dental hygienists into the State is the examination requirement for licensure, which requires a substantial commitment of time and money for applicants. For applicants who are already licensed to practice dental hygiene in another state and who have been deemed qualified by another state's licensing authority, the state examination requirement creates an unnecessary barrier to the practice of dental hygiene in Hawaii.

This measure addresses the State's dental hygienist shortage by allowing licensure by credentials. Applicants who are licensed in a state with licensing standards equivalent to or higher than Hawaii's standards and who provide proof of education, experience, and possession of an active license in good standing, among other things, would be allowed to be licensed in Hawaii without having to take the state constructed dental hygienist exam. Your Committee finds that this measure would help to attract more dental hygienists to practice in the State and alleviate the shortage that has hindered the ability of dentists to provide preventative care at a reasonable cost.

Your Committee has amended this measure:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1229, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1229, S.D. 1.