republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-970.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Dental assistants; supragingival scaling and coronal polishing, certification."
description: "Dental assistants; additional treatments; certification. Permits any dental assistant I or dental assistant II with a minimum of 1,800 hours of clinical experience to obtain certification pursuant to the requirements of the bill to perform supragingival scaling and coronal polishing. This bill is identical to SB 178."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 970"
citation: "Virginia HB 970 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marcia S. \"Cia\" Price"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 32
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/990a87ef-d58b-49f5-8e25-933a40f4b207"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB970"
source_hash: "1da06b83144eefbb8c119369ac03ea3875625766136c74b2bc4af878f727eda3"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 970 (2026) — Dental assistants; supragingival scaling and coronal polishing, certification.

Dental assistants; additional treatments; certification. Permits any dental assistant I or dental assistant II with a minimum of 1,800 hours of clinical experience to obtain certification pursuant to the requirements of the bill to perform supragingival scaling and coronal polishing. This bill is identical to SB 178.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086724.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217892.PDF)
3. **Health Professions Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128627.PDF)
4. **Health and Human Services Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1136625.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177851.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute — **21–1** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **78–20** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **14–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — primary (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Destiny LeVere Bolling — cosponsor (person)
- Garrett McGuire — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Laura Jane Cohen — cosponsor (person)
- M. Keith Hodges — cosponsor (person)
- Mark C. Downey — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
- Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101921D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB970)
- **2026-01-22** Referred from General Laws and referred to Health and Human Services (Voice Vote) `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-23** Assigned sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-05** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (9-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2026-02-10** Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-10** Committee substitute printed 26107302D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-12** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-13** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-13** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-16** Read third time and passed House (78-Y 20-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-17** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB970)
- **2026-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-17** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-20** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-20** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-23** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-23** Passed Senate (38-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-25** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB970ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB970)
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 439 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0439)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/990a87ef-d58b-49f5-8e25-933a40f4b207`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).