You can inquire on the ASDHA website (asdha.org) and click on the link or go to azleg.gov and “Find your Legislator”. Then look up by your zip code if you don’t know the name of your district or your Senator and Representatives. This is an invaluable opportunity to advance our profession by providing personal input as to the preventative and therapeutic services we perform for the public and our patients. Remember, these Legislators pass the laws that ultimately determine the way we practice and control our future. As health care professionals we should increase our awareness of and our comfort level with the legislative process. Please join us for a fun-filled and educational day.
Arizona State Dental Hygienists’Association Current Legislative Information
When the legislature for the state of Arizona is in session, we will include information regarding specific bills related to Arizona's dental hygiene issues.
Specific bills of importance to Arizona dental hygienists include:
ASDHA Legislative Alert
The State of Arizona has a budget crisis and is looking for money in many places, including raiding the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners (BODEX) budget. Currently, 90% of our licensing fees stay with BODEX and 10% goes to the State. Because of the budget crunch, BODEX is facing a potential 25% sweep of its budget in 2008. If this happens, it's very likely that legislation will be proposed to increase licensing fees for dental hygienists and dentists. Both ASDHA and the Arizona Dental Association (AzDA) are urging their members to contact their legislators and express their opposition to cutting their budget as well as increasing licensure fees. It is an unfair and unacceptable way to balance the budget and we must take action now to inform the legislators on our position. Please contact the key legislators on the list below today. Please do not delay.
(See the attached GetInvolved Letter,doc for more information and tips on working with legislators)
LEGISLATION UPDATE ON SB 1436 (3/10/08)
The bill, SB1436 that ASDHA has been working on with AzDA will not move forward this year. As many of you know, this bill would have created the COHR (Community Oral Health Representative) and also would have opened up the settings and populations for the AP/RDH. The COHR would have taken online courses and taken some clinical training to be an assistant with less supervision in outlying, underserved areas. Although our Association wasn't convinced that the COHR was the best solution to the "access to care" issue, we saw that supporting the amended bill would give us a chance to improve the role of the AP/RDH in Arizona. In fact, we met many times with AzDA's leadership to discuss the terms of the bill and we thought it was moving along well. Unfortunately, some of the board members were still uncomfortable with the language, specifically where the AP/RDH or COHR could practice and what population groups they could see. So, they just decided to drop the whole thing. They told the legislature that AzDA and ASDHA could not agree on the language; however, we believe that AzDA's leadership was truly interested in the bill's passage, but certain members of their board were not. Although we wanted to push ahead with the AP changes this year, the Senator who sponsored the bill has been absent due to illness and was not able to submit ASDHA's changes to AP/RDH with the time frame for hearing bills.
During a recent phone conference, Kelsey Lundy, our lobbyist suggested we develop a strong game plan for moving forward with our legislation for next year. She recommended that we network to build up broad based support from the community and encouraged us to continue to plan the AP changes we want. We are starting now to organize for next year by meeting together and improving communication between members. For more information contact President Jan Midkiff, janmrdh@cox.net, or President-Elect Jan Grutzius, janrdh@esedona.net.
Important Legislators to Contact
Health Committee Chairpersons
Senator Carolyn Allen callen@azleg.gov
ASDHA and AzDA are currently working together on COHR and AP legislation.
Details will be provided as the legislation is finalized.
To view details and progress information regarding these bills, go to the legislative website Arizona State Legislature . You may also use this website as a tool to tract pending legislation, plus locate and contact individual legislators, and stay up-to-date on current issues. To find your Arizona Legislator by zipcode click here: Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission - Interactive District Maps If you have specific questions or issues of concern to be addressed during the Legislative session, please feel free to contact us.