republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/153/sb-131.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ALLOWING DENTAL HYGIENISTS TO ADMINISTER LOCAL ANESTHESIA.	This Act expands the definition of the “practice of dental hygiene” under Title 24 (Professions and Occupations) to include the administration of local anesthesia under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist and directs the State Board of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene (“Board”) to establish the necessary requirements and standards. Currently, Delaware is the only state in the nation that does not allow dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia. Delaware also suffers from a shortage of dental care providers, leaving many Delawareans unable to access timely, quality, affordable dental care. Administering local anesthesia is a task that properly trained dental hygienists can do safely, as shown by the experiences of every other state. Expanding dental hygienists’ scope of practice to allow them to administer local anesthesia under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist will enable them to provide a broader range of services to patients and take some of the burden off the state’s limited supply of dentists.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	153	SB 131	Delaware SB 131 (153)	bill		enacted	Bryan Townsend David L. Wilson Franklin D. Cooke Kerri Evelyn Harris Marie Pinkney Melanie Ross Levin Nicole Poore Ray Seigfried	0	8	2	2025-05-08	2025-08-25	openstates	ocd-bill/7a9a4a32-23e1-4730-82d1-27ca4ec022aa	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142237	c515c0bc3680288f592abbaa01c67325792c4a0bfcaceb10f26d02cadc824c36	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 131 (153) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ALLOWING DENTAL HYGIENISTS TO ADMINISTER LOCAL ANESTHESIA.

This Act expands the definition of the “practice of dental hygiene” under Title 24 (Professions and Occupations) to include the administration of local anesthesia under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist and directs the State Board of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene (“Board”) to establish the necessary requirements and standards. Currently, Delaware is the only state in the nation that does not allow dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia. Delaware also suffers from a shortage of dental care providers, leaving many Delawareans unable to access timely, quality, affordable dental care. Administering local anesthesia is a task that properly trained dental hygienists can do safely, as shown by the experiences of every other state. Expanding dental hygienists’ scope of practice to allow them to administer local anesthesia under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist will enable them to provide a broader range of services to patients and take some of the burden off the state’s limited supply of dentists.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

Votes

• SM — 18–0 (pass) · upper
• 2/3 — 40–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
• David L. Wilson — primary (person)
• Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
• Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
• Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
• Melanie Ross Levin — primary (person)
• Nicole Poore — primary (person)
• Ray Seigfried — primary (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2025-05-08 Introduced and Assigned to Legislative Oversight & Sunset Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2025-05-09 Re-Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2025-05-21 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 7 Favorable committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-06-10 Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT passage
• 2025-06-11 Assigned to Sunset Committee (Policy Analysis & Government Accountability) Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2025-06-17 Reported Out of Committee (Sunset Committee (Policy Analysis & Government Accountability)) in House with 5 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2025-06-24 Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 VACANT passage
• 2025-08-25 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/7a9a4a32-23e1-4730-82d1-27ca4ec022aa. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).