Fabio
72 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ALLOWING DENTAL HYGIENISTS TO ADMINISTER LOCAL ANESTHESIA."
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description: "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."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "153"
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identifier: "SB 131"
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citation: "Delaware SB 131 (153)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Bryan Townsend", "David L. Wilson", "Franklin D. Cooke", "Kerri Evelyn Harris", "Marie Pinkney", "Melanie Ross Levin", "Nicole Poore", "Ray Seigfried"]
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version_count: 0
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action_count: 8
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vote_count: 2
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first_action: "2025-05-08"
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last_action: "2025-08-25"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7a9a4a32-23e1-4730-82d1-27ca4ec022aa"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142237"
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source_hash: "c515c0bc3680288f592abbaa01c67325792c4a0bfcaceb10f26d02cadc824c36"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# Delaware SB 131 (153) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ALLOWING DENTAL HYGIENISTS TO ADMINISTER LOCAL ANESTHESIA.
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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.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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## Votes
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- SM — **18–0** (pass) · upper
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- 2/3 — **40–0** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
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- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
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- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
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- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
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- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
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- Melanie Ross Levin — primary (person)
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- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
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- Ray Seigfried — primary (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2025-05-08** Introduced and Assigned to Legislative Oversight & Sunset Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2025-05-09** Re-Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2025-05-21** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 7 Favorable `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2025-06-10** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2025-06-11** Assigned to Sunset Committee (Policy Analysis & Government Accountability) Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2025-06-17** Reported Out of Committee (Sunset Committee (Policy Analysis & Government Accountability)) in House with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2025-06-24** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 VACANT `passage`
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- **2025-08-25** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7a9a4a32-23e1-4730-82d1-27ca4ec022aa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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