Bill > SB1037

This bill introduces several changes to professional licensing and regulation in Arizona across multiple areas. First, it modifies requirements for oral preventive assistants in dental practices, expanding the qualifications for dental assistants to become oral preventive assistants by adding a third pathway through completing a dental assisting program at a licensed private postsecondary educational institution with live patient clinical training. The bill also clarifies the scope of practice for these assistants, including limitations on the types of patients they can treat and the specific dental procedures they can perform. Second, the bill establishes new financial oversight requirements for health profession regulatory boards, mandating that they review their fees annually in a public meeting and disclose their fund balances. If a board's fund balance exceeds two years of operating expenses plus 5%, they must reduce or eliminate licensing and application fees. Similarly, the bill extends these financial oversight provisions to non-health professional licensing authorities, requiring them to follow the same fee review and fund balance management procedures. These changes aim to increase transparency in professional licensing and ensure that regulatory boards are not collecting excessive fees relative to their operational costs.

Government Affairs

https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview/81654